Students in the Berkshires Celebrate International Day of Peace

On International Day of Peace, the United Nations invites all nations and people to honor the day thorough education and public awareness on issues related to peace. (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)

The General Assembly of the United Nations declared September 21st as the International Day of Peace. Since the first year of celebration, many schools around the country have used that commemoration to influence children on the importance of world peace. So this past September 21st, I took a film crew with me to an amazing Montessori school, deep in the Berkshires of Western MA to see what they were doing.

Everything I teach in my parenting program and all that I feature on my television show is dedicated to increasing the peacefulness in families and classrooms. If we hope to have less war and conflict in the future, and more love and compassion for one another, then it’s up to us to cultivate that in our children who will be responsible for carrying out the plan.

The director of Montessori School of the Berkshires, Meagan Ledendecker, asked each of the classes to create a project that would represent their own celebration of world peace. Upon hearing about this challenge, it became my goal to capture on film, many of the class projects that would eventually be put on display for all the parents to see. The clip below is an excerpt from the most recent episode of my television show, featuring some of the activities at the school on this day.

The school featured in the clip above is making a major contribution to bringing about more peace in the world. And parents can be make a difference with their children as well. In the clip below from the same show, I offered parents 10 tips for raising a more peaceful child. See if you’re doing any of these with your family.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bill Corbett

Bill is the author of the award-winning parenting book series, Love, Limits, & Lessons: A Parent’s Guide to Raising Cooperative Kids (in English and in Spanish) and the executive producer and host of the public access television show Creating Cooperative Kids. He is a Western Mass native and grew up in the Northampton area. As a member of the American Psychological Association and the North American Society for Adlerian Psychology, Bill provides parent coaching and keynote presentations to parent and professional audiences across the country. He sits on the board of the Network Against Domestic Abuse, the Resource Advisory Committee for Attachment Parenting International, and the management team of the Springfield Parent Academy. Bill’s practical experience comes as a father of 3 grown children, a grandfather of two, and a stepdad to three, and resides in the area with his loving wife Elizabeth and teen step daughter Olivia.  You can learn more about Bill and his work at www.CooperativeKids.com.