This article seeks to demonstrate how the current debate around nursing skills is derived from an economic model of care and competency that has been based on the needs of the adult population. The professional perspective of children's nursing has been unheard in policy and decision-making circles concerning the skills agenda debate within educational and clinical practice. As a consequence, the need of children's nurses has been assumed to be the same as those of general/adult nursing. This article argues that children's nursing has followed a different historical and professional pathway on its progression to maturity. These differences call for alternative educational and clinical solutions for children's nurses in the issue of skills acquisition. In the children's nursing context, this is the difference between having a skill and being skilled. Recognition of this could ensure that children's nursing has a valuable contribution to make to the debate from its unique perspective.
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