Teach Your Children
 What would change the level of violence?
Changing the
lessons we teach our children.
Most children who commit acts of violence
are applying a lesson they've learned in and outside the home.
"Kids learn that violence is the way to deal with problems,"
Spivak says. "They learn it through corporal punishment, through
witnessing domestic battering and in the media."
Literally hundreds of studies confirm that slapping, spanking or
beating children increases the child's anger while sending a message
that violence is a source of power and a solution to problems. This
combination greatly increases the odds that a child will become violent.
Children who witness domestic violence also are more likely to become
violent. Noting that in several of the school yard shootings, the boys'
intended targets were girls, Spivak says, "I wouldn't be surprised
if the some of children in these incidents had seen their mother being
battered
While the level of family violence is on the rise, so is violence in
the media, both in entertainment and news programs. Three out of every
five TV programs and nine out of every ten TV movies contain violence.
Much of the time, a "good" character who shows little remorse
commits the violence, which has no negative consequences. "Watching
TV violence desensitizes children to the violence they see," says
Bradley Hospital psychologist Allan J. Brenman, PhD. "It now takes
more intense graphic content to shock viewers." There's also
evidence that behavior is more aggressive after kids watch programs
containing violence.
How to teach nonviolence
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