Synopses & Reviews
Psychology professor Sharna Olfman joins children's champion Raffi Cavoukian (known to millions as the troubadour Raffi) to introduce his original philosophy called Child Honoring--a children-first paradigm for creating humane and sustainable cultures. With a foreword by the Dalai Lama, Child Honoring: How to Turn This World Around outlines the unprecedented threats to life at this defining moment in history, and offers a systemic remedy for societal transformation based on honoring our youngest and "most valuable players." Contributors to this groundbreaking anthology come from across disciplines and include renowned child development author Penelope Leach, Nobel Prize nominee Lloyd Axworthy, celebrated cultural historian Riane Eisler, bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver, ecological economist Ron Colman, Indigenous educator Lorna Williams, theologian Matthew Fox, The Corporation author Joel Bakan, and famed physicist Fritjof Capra. These eminent thinkers present the science, research and understanding on the interrelated threats to the lives of children that affect developmental health and community. All adults--from parents and teachers to politicians, policy makers, business leaders and scientists--can and must play a role to "turn this world around," declares the text. This riveting, reader-friendly book brings attention to the need to detoxify our world: safeguard fetal and infant development, ban corporal punishment, create family-friendly policies in business and employment, curb corporate advertising to children, and recognize the importance of protecting biodiversity.
Review
"How often do you come across a book that might actually change the world for a better?... Read it, believe it, and pass on the message!" - Jane M. Healy, Ph.D., author of Your Child's Growing Mind
Review
"What an ambitious and timely project this is!...I hear the plea to turn away from our present value systems (money, power, war, aggression) and to honor our children and their families.... Let's all listen!" - T. Berry Brazelton, M.D. Professor of Pediatrics, Emeritus, Harvard Medical School Founder, Brazelton Touchpoints Center
Review
"For new ideas and a clear vision of how to reshape 'a world fit for children', by all means read this sobering, salutary and inspirational book." - Stephen Lewis former Canadian Ambassador to the UN
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"Child Honoring is a bold vision for a humane and sustainable world." - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. environmentalist author of The Riverkeepers
Review
"Could this not be the single thought that steers us through the dangerous passage--a world that honors its children?" - Peter M. Senge Senior Lecturer, MIT, Founding Chair, Society for Organizational Learning
Synopsis
Sharna Olfman joins Raffi Cavoukian to introduce his original philosophy, Child Honoring-a compassionate revolution in values, a children-first approach to global restoration. This remarkable anthology outlines the unprecedented threats to life at this defining moment in history, and offers a novel and systemic remedy for societal transformation based on honoring our youngest and "most valuable players." Contributors from across many disciplines include renowned child development author Penelope Leach, Nobel Prize nominee Lloyd Axworthy, celebrated cultural historian Riane Eisler, bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver, and ecological economist Ron Colman. Child Honoring is a corrective lens that, once we look through it, allows us to question everything from the way we measure economic progress to our stewardship of the planet; from our physical treatment of children to the corporate impact on their minds and bodies; from factory schooling to rampant consumerism. It offers a proactive developmental approach to creating healthy and sustainable societies. As a creed that crosses all faiths and cultures, Child Honoring is a unifying idea: a central organizing principle for a culture of peace. This book will inspire thought-and provoke action-by all who read it.
Synopsis
Famed children's songwriter Raffi Cavoukian joins psychology professor Sharna Olfman and a remarkable, multidisciplinary team of scholars to introduce "Child Honoring," a philosophy that encourages adults to face and address negative personal, cultural, and planetary conditions impacting children in these troubled times.
Synopsis
In launching an international campaign on behalf of the world's children, Nelson Mandella spoke of the need for action to address the many threats facing children around the globe. He called for adults to "turn this world around." That phrase struck a cord with scientists, psychologists, philosophers, and celebrities internationally, among them Raffi Cavoukian. The award-winning children's troubadour, better known as Raffi, turned Mandela's phrase not only into a song, but into the basis for a compassionate revolution called for in a philosophy he calls "Child Honoring." Raffi's philosophy is the inspiration for this remarkable book, co-edited with psychology professor Sharna Olfman. The book outlines unprecedented threats to life at this defining moment in history, and offers a systemic remedy based on honoring our youngest and most valuable members of society. Contributors to this groundbreaking anthology come from across disciplines and include renowned child development author Penelope Leach, Nobel Prize nominee Lloyd Axworthy, celebrated cultural historian Riane Eisler, bestselling authors Barbara Kingsolver and Mary Gordon, and famed physicist Fritjof Capra.
About the Author
RAFFI CAVOUKIAN is known to millions by the singular name 'Raffi,' a singer and songwriter the Washington Post called "the most popular children's entertainer in the western world." Also a music producer, arranger and book author, since 1975 Raffi has been President of Troubador Music, one of the most successful independent music labels in the U.S. and Canada. Since Raffi began performing for families with young children 30 years ago, his CDs, tapes, videos and DVDs have sold some 14 million copies, and his books have sold more than 3 million copies.SHARNA OLFMAN is Series Editor for Praeger's Childhood in America series. She is a Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology at Point Park University, where she is also Founding Director of the annual Childhood and Society Symposium. Olfman's many scholarly memberships include those with the American Psychological Association, the Council of Human Development, the Waldorf Alliance for Childhood and the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Her prior Praeger books include All Work and No Play: How Educational Reforms are Harming our Preschoolers and No Child Left Different.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
UNIVERSAL NEEDS: KEYS TO THE GARDEN
Personal Child: The Primacy of The Early Years
The Emotional Architecture of the Mind by Stanley Greenspan and Stuart Shanker
Starting Off Right by Penelope Leach
Self, Identity, and Generativity by Sharna Olfman
Compassionate Village
Transcendent Spirit by Matthew Fox and Heather Eaton
Educating the Whole Child by Joan Almon, Ron Miller, and Fritjof Capra
Honoring All Life by Lorna Williams
The Benefits of Partnership: When Children Are Honored There Is Peace and Prosperity by Riane Eisler
The Great Turning by David Korten
Planetary Child: Earth Portrait
Indigenous Child by Paulo Wangoola
The Environmental Life of Children by Sandra Steingraber
Lily's Chickens by Barbara Kingsolver
RECLAIMING OUR FUTURE
Templates for Change
Our Most Vulnerable by Philip Landrigan
The Power of Empathy by Mary Gordon
What Matters Most by Ronald Colman and Mark Anielski
Turn This World Around: Policy and Practice
State of the Child by Graca Machel and Lloyd Axworthy
Kids and the Corporation by Joel Bakan
Honoring Children in Dishonorable Times: Reclaiming Childhood from Commercalized Media Culture by Susan Linn
A World Fit for Children by Varda Burstyn
Tomorrow's Child by Ray Anderson
Making a Vow: Living the Covenant by Raffi Cavoukian