80 C. Dumbrava petri dish and a turkey baster to make somebody a parent and hence a supplier of citizenship status. The relevance of horizontal family ties between spouses in citizenship matters has largely diminished, as a flipside of the spread of gender equality norms, since in liberal states wives no longer automatically acquire their husbands’ citizenship. By contrast, parental ties continue to remain paramount for the regulation of citizenship. Even if there are good reasons for seeking to ensure the swift transfer of citizenship from parents to children (e.g. to prevent statelessness), this approach is questionable because it renders children vulnerable. Ius sanguinis citizenship makes access to citizenship for children dependent on parents’ legal status, actions or reproductive choices. As in the case of spouses, joint citizenship adds little to the legal and normative character of the parent-child relationship. There is little doubt that the law should treat children and the parent-child relationship with special attention. However, this could and should be achieved regardless of the citizenship status of children and parents. One could, for example, extend the legal rights associated with parentage and filiation (e.g. conferring full migration rights to children of citizens) or seek to establish a universal status of (legal) childhood that confers fundamental right and protection to children regardless of their or their parents’ citizenship or migration status. The second argument for ius sanguinis citizenship is that the automatic transition of membership status from parents to children ensures the smooth reproduction of the political community. As children of citizens grow, they become socialised in the political community of their parents and develop political skills necessary for furthering their parents’ project of democratic self-government, skills that they will eventually pass on to their own children. An easy objection to this view is that it is empirically naïve, especially in the context of increased migration and diversification of family practices. Citizenship is thus based on a contested expectation. Instead of granting citizenship ex-ante to persons who are likely to develop desirable citizenship attitudes and skills, we could delay the attribution of citizenship until such attitudes and skills are confirmed. Alternatively, there may be other normative considerations for turning children into citizens. For example, being born in the country and/or living there at a young age makes children not only subject to the law of the country but also highly dependent on the state, which, for example, is required to provide regular and reliable access to medical care such as vaccinations. These considerations could justify granting children at least provisional citizenship.