Character education is more important than ever. As we begin our second decade, Teach Peace Now remains committed to building peaceful values in our world in 2021.
Words Matter: The Value of Character Education
Book Review: Last Child in the Woods
Are your children playing outside today?- With Earth Day around the corner, it seems appropriate to consider why we need to care about the natural world and to share that love of nature with our children. Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv Algonquin Books 2008 “Leave no child inside” In this book, Richard […]
6 Reasons to Give Thanks
In the United States, we hold Thanksgiving Day on the third Thursday in November. Many other countries also have days of thanksgiving that are an important part of their lives. Japan celebrates Kinrō Kansha no Hi on November 23rd when people give thanks for the work done throughout the year and the fruit of that labor. […]
Misplaced Priorities: What are you doing to protect your children?
A book review of Sandra Steingraber’s Raising Elijah by Tim Wolcott A great book is sometimes difficult to read. However, the author often propels you along its enlightened path using earth-shaking examples that strike home. Such is the case with Raising Elijah, the story of how toxic chemicals are affecting our children. Ms. Steingraber’s empirically-based, maternally-centered thesis […]
Are you teaching your children to be racist?
Racism exists. We live in a soup of roiling, boiling hatred based on one’s perceived skin color. And that hatred starts young. Children are not born racist. It is taught. Dylann Roof was not born a racist. He was taught. Are you teaching your children to be racist? Research indicates that children develop racist attitudes […]
Can you detach your child from the screen?
The Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, is sponsoring Screen Free Week for April 29-May 5. Young children now spend 32 hours a week in front of screens – TVs, computers, iPads, and cell phones. Recent research on the effect of the overuse of computers and hours spent indoors on the vision of children strongly suggests that screen exposure […]
Let’s teach empathy
Last weeks’ post was a harsh one. It is so hard to believe that any American would condone torture of any kind. Tom Engelhardt in his post “What if Iranians Waterboarded an American” turns the issue on its head. What if it were an American being tortured he asks. What if it were someone we knew? Would […]
Are You Stressed?
Activities for a Time of Stress This is the time of year when we often think about peace and yet many times find ourselves stressed from holiday preparations and rounds of visitors. Below are some activities that teachers can do with their students, and parents can do with their children, or that you can do on your own, in order […]
Bully by Patricia Polacco
Patricia Polacco has a new picturebook out. If you are expecting a sweet-hearted book like Thunder Cake or Renchko’s Eggs or Bun Bun Button, be forewarned, Polacco has again gone to the nub of an issue and faced it square on. This is a picturebook for middle schoolers not elementary school children. The characters are […]
