Child-Rearing for a Non-Violent Society

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by Richard Crews
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As to the nuts and bolts of producing a free and non-violent society, that lies mostly in the society's child-rearing practices. A kid who is brought up by parents who favor or enforce obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom becomes an adult who "knows" that is how to raise kids. Otherwise the kids will "go bad," and will not become disciplined and motivated adults,

In the era of spankings at home and teaching kids at school via bruised knuckles and stinging backsides, the next generation believed that was the ONLY way to raise kids safely, so that they would be secure from vice and sloth. It is possible to turn a kid around later during latency and adolescence--for a kid to learn that freedom and respect beget freedom and respect--but it is hard.

In our society, even in the best of homes where kids are loved and protected, they are taught behavior patterns by a pair of amateurs. Most parents--even in the best of homes--learned most of what they know about child-rearing from the pair of amateurs who raised them.

To what extent can parents be taught to raise their kids with respect for their personal freedom and dignity? How can the cycle (that truly comes out of love, and misinformed fear for the child's welfare) be broken?

That is the key, I believe, to developing a truly Civilized future for humanity.
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