The Children's Peace & Anti-Bias Library

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PEACE EDUCATION FOR THE YOUNG CHILD

Based on the work of Rosmarie Greiner

"If we are to reach real peace in the world and
if we are to carry on a real war against war,
we shall have to begin with the children."
Mahatma Gandhi

How do we begin with the children? How do we help young children to grow into peacemakers? What are appropriate teaching approaches for two year olds, threes, fours, fives? The Rosmarie Greiner Peace Education curriculum is built around six age-appropriate themes: knowledge of self and connection to others; joy in diversity; imagination and playfulness; care and love of nature; sense of justice and creative conflict resolution; and global awareness. Each of these inter-related components provides a place to develop rich and exciting curriculum. Together they comprise an integrated approach to Peace Education.

Knowledge of Self & Connection to Others

A positive self-image lies at the root of trusting human relationships. From the sense of security and trust built in their earliest relationships, each child comes to know themselves, recognize their unique feelings and competence and to feel valued and accepted. From this base children become aware of their interconnection with others. Acceptance and love of self lays the groundwork for accepting and loving others. With age and opportunities for social interaction, children discover the benefits of cooperation, empathy, acceptance, friendly interactions and caring.

Joy in Diversity

Helping children gain a sense of who they are requires cultivating positive feelings about their family cultures, their home languages, their sexual identity and their ethnic/racial heritage. In addition, children need support in understanding that there are other good people who may look, think and act in ways that are new or different to the child. Without this support children’s fear, misinformation and ignorance may become the seeds of stereotypes and prejudice. Respect for people from a variety of cultures, ages, physical and mental abilities can be built from children’s natural curiosity about all that’s new and different in their worlds.

Creative Conflict Resolution & Sense of Justice

Children experience first-hand conflict over unmet needs, things taken, attention not given and clashing of ideas. Feelings of fear, resentment and hostility, may arise when they are not helped to understand and express what they are feeling. Children can be helped to express feelings in non-damaging ways and learn how to problem solve for mutual satisfaction. The “listened-to child” learns to listen. The child’s natural gifts for empathy, collaboration & connection, are the building blocks for conflict resolution. From an early age children can develop a sense of fairness and unfairness, of justice and injustice. Children can be helped to understand that violent solutions carry harmful consequences and that problem solving leads to friendship and community.

Imagination & Playfulness

Children are naturally intuitive, spontaneous imaginative and creative. Creativity is the process of looking at things in new ways, trying something that one has not seen before. Imagination allows children to discover many ways of doing things. In addition, inherent in creativity, is trying things that don’t work, making mistakes, finding unexpected dilemmas. The quality of playfulness feeds a child’s delight at being alive, and gives them a natural workshop to make sense of a confusing world. The child’s pleasure in imagining provides a workshop in problem solving, and develops a sense of agency, power, joy and competence.

Care & Love of Nature

Understanding and feeling connected with nature starts at an early age. Children’s sensory approach to life pushes them to touch, prod, taste, pour, and physically connect with the rich environments in which they find themselves. Animals, plants, and the out of doors, attract all children. A sense of wonder, the joy of exploration, and knowledge of many life forms, builds in the child a deep sense of connection with the natural world. Encouraging children to respect, care for, and enjoy nature builds a beginning awareness of our responsibilities to our planet and encourages respect for all life.

Global Awareness

Children grow up today in a world of unprecedented migration of peoples, and of technological advances that have ushered in an interdependent global village. Many young ones have family in other countries or may go back and forth between countries. Although the young child has a limited sense of distance, size or time, they are immensely interested in what their world is like and how people live throughout the planet. At an early age children can appreciate that “everyone sleeps, but some people sleep on hammocks, some on tatami mats, some on lofts and some in beds”. All over the planet people are very much the same, and yet very different. Learning to cherish both our differences and our similarities is a fundamental task of the peacemaker.