Teach Your Children

How to teach nonviolence

To turn the tide, children need to be taught a new lesson. A host of anti-violence programs are giving children a different set of values than those offered by the media. They teach children how to deal with anger, frustration and disappointment in non-violent ways; how to value themselves and that violence is never acceptable. And they also provide role models who are nonviolent.

Parents must be teachers, too, if children are to learn that violent emotions can and should be controlled, that words are better than slaps or punches, that violence is never the best choice.

"The country has begun to think about youth violence differently, in a more urgent way," says Spivak. "We're taking preventive action rather than a reactive response. Violence is preventable."

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