Begin with the Children

This profound statement from Gandhi was the inspiration for World Peace Parents Foundation's Begin with the Children™ project. The Foundation interprets Gandhi's "we" as parents. To teach noble virtues like peace, parents must begin with their children while they are young.

The mission of the Foundation's Begin with the Children project is to connect with the parents of newborn and young children and make available user-friendly family educational materials for use at home as a help to parents in rearing their children.

Development of Begin with the Children as a Community Service Project

A $25 million research project led by Princeton and Columbia Universities, known as the "Fragile Family and Child Well-being Study," involved 5,000 so-called "fragile families" consisting primarily of single mothers and cohabitating unwed parents. Certain findings from the research are the basis for the development of Begin with the Children as a community service project to intercept all parents of newborn children at birthing centers.

Introduced at the 2008 Rotary International Convention in Los Angeles, a pilot test was conducted of the project at five different hospitals in three U.S. States. Parents of newborn children were provided with the Foundation's Parenting Kits, which were donated by Rotary clubs as project Sponsors. Click here for a description of the Parenting Kit. The Foundation now seeks Sponsors for this community service project at birthing centers in local communities. For information on becoming a Sponsor, click here.

Gandhi's fellow countryman, Kalyan Banerjee of Vapi, India, is the current President of Rotary International. His first message to the Rotary club members spanning nearly two hundred countries and geographic regions worldwide included this goal:

"Our first emphasis in this Rotary year will be the family. The family and the home are at the core of all our work — all our service begins here. And through the family, we approach all of our community and indeed, all of humanity, as an extended family, in which all members care for each other. In times of joy and in times of need, no one is ever alone." (The Rotarian, July 2011, page 1)

Parents Must Lead the Way

Rearing children doesn't just happen. It requires Dad and Mom leadership. It is said that children are not born with an instruction manual and that birth does not give parents a degree in parenting. At the Foundation, we believe that children are the instruction manual. Also, we feel conscientious parents can earn an honorary degree in parenting if they will make the resolve to be good parents, and then commit to:

Take the time,
Make the effort,
Provide family leadership, and
Adopt and use a parenting plan.

Mahatma Gandhi also noted, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." Applying this wisdom to parents, the change parents can bring to America is to instill noble values and virtues in their children through conscientious parenting using the family leadership skills discussed in the Foundation's Begin with the Children Newborn and Pre-School Parenting Kits. In addition to the Begin with the Children community service project for parents of newborns, the Foundation now makes the Parenting Kit available for purchase by the public. The Parenting Kit is particularly useful to parents of young children. To purchase the Pre-School Parenting Kit, click here. In providing family leadership, parents need not "go it alone." In fact, there is so much parenting information available, it can be very confusing. Recognizing this, the Foundation provides KinderKronicle™, a monthly publication. Click here for information on KinderKronicle.