A Covenant for Honoring Children

Source: OSU Human Development & Family Sciences

I was flipping through my infant massage workbook last night in preparation for teaching this morning and all the way at the back, I found this wonderful excerpt from a document called "A Covenant for Honoring Children" by famed children's musician, Raffi.

We find these joys to be self evident: That all children are created whole, endowed with innate intelligence, with dignity and wonder, worthy of respect. The embodiment of life, liberty and happiness, children are original blessings, here to learn their own song. Every girl and boy is entitled to love, to dream and belong to a loving “village.” And to pursue a life of purpose.

We affirm our duty to nourish and nurture the young, to honour their caring ideals as the heart of being human. To recognize the early years as the foundation of life, and to cherish the contribution of young children to human evolution.

We commit ourselves to peaceful ways and vow to keep from harm or neglect these, our most vulnerable citizens. As guardians of their prosperity we honour the bountiful Earth whose diversity sustains us. Thus we pledge our love for generations to come.

-----Source: RaffiNews.com

This is only the preamble of the document; it is followed by nine Child Honouring Principles, which are: Respectful Love, Diversity, Caring Community, Conscious Parenting, Emotional Intelligence, Nonviolence, Safe Environments, Sustainability, and Ethical Commerce.  To read more about what each of these principles mean, please click here to go to the full document.  You can also download the entire document in PDF form.

That's all I have to say for now.  Read.  Go forth.  Love, and conquer!