Institute for Global Education

Connecting peaceful parenting to children’s well-being

Through Parenting for Peace, the Institute for Global Education educates and advocates in order to:

• Promote children’s rights and well-being
• Support parents/caregivers rights and well-being, and their efforts to raise healthy, happy children
• Make connections between peaceful parenting and a peaceful world
• Bring diverse groups together to learn from each other and strengthen our collective voice

Our vision is a world in which all children have family love, clean air to breathe, clean water, comprehensive health care, adequate nutritious food, secure homes, and full educational and recreational opportunity; a world where none are abused, neglected, deliberately hurt, or demeaned. It is a world in which parents have all the material, educational, social, and spiritual support they need to reach their best potential and pass the same opportunity on to their children.

Our current focus
From parents and educators to concerned citizens, we welcome anyone to join us in working toward this vision. We are currently working with many others across the country to get the USA to ratify the U. N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

In addition to this focus, we work in the following areas:

Education
We compile and disseminate information on what parenting for peace means and what it can do, and on how parents and children can best be supported. We arrange public discussions and other events. We offer speakers. We maintain a website. We provide or refer people to other resources.

Advocacy
We promote changes that help parents and children reach their potential. Such changes include nurturing, non-judgmental approaches to parents, and respectful dialogue with children. We reach out to those in government, education, various other institutions, and the community generally

Cooperation
We work with other institutions and individuals, and seek to unite diverse groups. The following group have endorsed our mission, and we support each other where possible:

• Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Kent County branch
• Men’s Resource Center
• Institute for Global Education
• Hard Times Café of Grand Rapids
• Green Party of Kent County
• Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy
• Criminal Justice Chaplaincy

We welcome new participants and new endorsements from peer organizations. To learn more, please download our brochure (see: http://www.iserv.net/~ige/pfp/pfpbrochure2.pdf), or contact us.