Monday, March 27, 2006

How Do You Explain Peace To A Four Year Old?

This came up today in our house. I don't have a good answer and need some advice. Any help will be appreciated. Given the actions of the W, Rove and Co and the constant barrage of war-time images in the MSM, how should a good parent here in these United States of America, explain the concept of peace to a four-year-old?

Leave your thoughts in a comment to this post. Thanks and Blog on All. Blog on.

7 comments:

Neil Shakespeare said...

Sleep without nightmares.

Marie said...

Peace is when people don't fight. Or, if they do fight, they make up afterwards. Then they have peace.

It's not letting a bully do whatever he wants. That's tyranny.

It's not terrorizing people do do your bidding. That's tyranny, too.

It's about being fair, considering other people's wants and needs, being honest, and letting go of pride.

Peace is hard work.

SheaNC said...

I can't offer any great insights into how to define it beyond the dictionary definition. I often find it's easier to describe something by what it isn't, and the world seems to be full of examples of what peace isn't, lately.

SheaNC said...

PS - Yup, tryin' out a new picture...

Anonymous said...

I'd say peace is a place within us where we are all family. Where, if we fight, we realize that no matter what we've done to one another, we can find forgiveness and live without fear of each other.
I would attempt to tell your four-year-old that peace is when all people love one another as family, and there are no "bad" people.
This is a world we can create in each of our lives by believing in the humanity of others, and never losing our belief that we CAN live in a peaceful world.

Anonymous said...

Peace is when countries are talking to each other. War is when they're not.

(Kid-speak for, "War is diplomacy carried on by other means.")

isabelita said...

How did your child bring it up? It seems like such a difficult concept for a person that age. Probably the idea of no fighting would be the easiest to convey to someone so young. I dimly recall trying to convince our son that peace was something very quiet, that we all needed to have at the end of the day...