Parenting Expert Val Mullally gives a call for peace – a call to every parent to take action for a happier, peace-full world.
Do you ever worry about what sort of world your children will have to survive in?
What sort of future will your child have?
It’s scary to have people in control of situations who are not in control of themselves.
It’s time for change. We need to be clearly anti-war. War is not an option.
“The cost of war not only to lives but to minds and imaginations, to the integrity of whole societies, is still unsurpassed.” Rowan Williams
It’s time for us to do differently. It’s time to raise a generation of people who know that all of us need and deserve mutual respect. We all need to learn how to cooperate.
It’s time to raise a generation who will lead well.
It’s our job as parents – and as grandparents – to raise that generation.
“The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”
Such an old saying we often don’t stop to think about the power of that statement. You, mothers and fathers, parents are the ones who rock the cradle. And grandparents, we rock the cradle too. This task is so huge and so urgent that every one of us needs to be on board to make peace a reality. You, parents, are the ones who rule the world because you are raising the next generation. You are raising the next generation who will either continue to repeat the same patterns of using aggression as their tool of choice to force their own way, no matter what the consequences, or you can raise a different generation who know how to calm themselves so they can stay in the clear thinking “Green Zone”, and model how to find better, kinder solutions, that take everyone’s needs into account.
We, as parents – and grandparents – need to demonstrate by our own lives that any form of bullying behaviour is NOT OKAY.
Will you choose to set the example in your own home?
“There is a choice in everything, but in the end the choice makes you.”
The choice is yours. The opportunity is here.
We all hope we will be parents who act in a loving way, but, as my colleague Elizabeth Garry Brosnan says,
Always we hope for better, more, greater… but dear friend, hope is not a strategy!
If we want to stop having bullies running the world we need to have a quiet revolution in our homes and schools. We need a clear strategy to raise a generation of children who know how to navigate relationships in a way that is mutually respectful.
We CAN make the difference.
Homes where there is joy, where there is harmony, start with ourselves and with our family interactions.
And we have the potential to raise happier children who will create a happier, more peaceful world.
You are the cradle-rockers!
Decide to be one of the growing numbers of parents who have a strategy for a happier home, for relationships that model cooperation, communication and connection. Let’s rock the world!
But how?
One small step in the direction to peace in the world and peace in our families is to be more peace-full in ourselves. Then we will have the inner calm to perceive what’s needed and to respond helpfully, even when things aren’t going smoothly.
When we know how to respond, rather than react, we’ll also be able to model to our children how to move from conflict to connection – a core skill that makes for happier day-to-day living, and is needed at every level of our social, education, business and political interactions.
It’s a starting point to being the cradle-rocker who makes the difference – even when your children are well past the cradle stage!
Let’s call for peace by living it. Let’s BE the difference that makes the difference.
Life is fragile.
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