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Medium article here. Text preceded peaceful parenting video playlist. https://medium.com/self-knowledge-daily/raising-the-skyline-of-humanity-through-peaceful-parenting-c1a092f4c897#.wud2dl3at When children are the most inconvenient and most grating on the nerves, they deserve our undivided attention. But not in the form of coercion, with the goal of manipulating and dominating the child’s will into deadened obedience, as if he were some unruly canine. No, during these difficult moments, the child deserves our curiosity the most, for even the most unpleasant behaviors are simply the child’s best attempts to tell us something about his inner world. A child effectively lives in the position of a hostage, since children do not choose their parents, cannot leave their parents, and do not choose how to be reared. A child’s behavior is largely the symptom of a brain that has developed as a result of how well his caregivers meet his unique needs, which is not under his control, so we cannot logically condemn him as morally bad and assign moral responsibility to him for his “difficult” behavior. If taking other people’s needs into consideration is a universal rule that applies to everyone, then given the circumstances I just mentioned, children deserve this consideration the most as children are people too, albeit miniature people who need support and guidance. Tragically, because children are not seen in this way, are not seen as equals who deserve freedom from aggression as much as anyone else, they consequently become the receptacles in which the parents dump their own repressed pain and humiliation, much to the detriment of society. When children are accorded the same level of respect and care that we give puppies, or even adult dogs for that matter — that would be a leap for mankind so great as to surpass even the Apollo 11 moon landing in significance and this world would be such a less hostile place to live in as to be nearly unrecognizable. If there’s anything I would like to do with my life, it would be to remove the shroud of relativism that surrounds the subject of parenting and to elevate it to at least the same standard of rigor and objectivity that is expected of professions such as architecture. That way, parenting may too become a discipline of passion and dedication and as a result, produce the same kind of beauty and magnificence that we have grown so accustomed to admiring in the world’s most impressive towers. For if we are to create a society in which humans can ascend to the towering heights of fully actualized potential and grandeur that we’re so capable of, then a sturdy foundation is needed. That sturdy foundation is peaceful parenting.