January

"Take the hand of your child and invite her to go out and sit with you on the grass. The two of you may want to contemplate the green grass, the little flowers that grow among the grasses, and the sky. Breathing and smiling together-that is peace education. If we know how to appreciate these beautiful things, we will not have to search for anything else. Peace is available in every moment, in every breath, in every step."

Thich Nhat Hanh,
Peace is Every Step

February

"Play is the highest form of research."

Albert Einstein

March

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of their skin, religion or background. Hatred and intolerance have to be learned and, if they can be learned, so can love and tolerance, which are more natural to the human heart. Even in the grimmest times I have seen glimmers of humanity which have reassured me that man's goodness is the flame that can never be extinguished."

Nelson Mandela

April

"We shall not achieve any significant change in society until we focus not only on what it means to be a parent, but also on what it means to be a child."

Doreen Goodman,
Founder of What About The Children?

May/June

"We do not stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

Author unknown

July

"Kids don't resist learning; they resist teaching."

John Gatto,
The Underground History of American Education

August

"Somehow we have lost the capacity to recognize ourselves in each other. You know, people talk a lot about the federal deficit, but one of the things that I always talk about is an empathy deficit."

Barack Obama

Obama for America

September

"The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him."

Pablo Casals

October

"The quality of our race turns on the quality of the parents; and especially does the quality of the child turn on the peace, happiness, and well-being of the mother. We can never have a noble race of men until we have a noble race of mothers. And in order to be a noble woman, this woman must be economically free. The world is changing - all things are being made new. What we want is a fixed and firm faith that wherever and whenever a mother holds in her arms a babe, hugging it to her heart, crooning to it a lullaby, there is God. When this time comes, the state will provide a pension for every mother who cares for her babe."

Elbert Hubbard,
Fra Magazine, 1914

November

"It is part of the mythology of childhood itself that children hate learning and will avoid it at all costs. Of course, anyone who has had a child knows what an absurd lie this is. From infancy onward, children are the most fantastic learners in the world."

Daniel Quinn,
"Schooling: The Hidden Agenda"

December

"A child whose life is full of the threat and fear of punishment is locked into babyhood. There is no way for him to grow up, to learn to take responsibility for his life and acts. Most important of all, we should not assume that having to yield to the threat of our superior force is good for the child's character. It is never good for anyone's character."

John Holt

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