Most people my age or older will probably remember Raffi as the guy who brought us Baby Beluga and other great hits. Those who will be graduating with me in June will probably also remember Raffi as the guy who welcomed us to our program three years ago. But what most people do not know is that Raffi has found new ways to enrich this world since he first started singing for children.
His ideas now revolve around the idea of Child Honouring. According to his website,
Child Honouring is a “children first” approach to healing communities and restoring ecosystems; it views how we regard and treat our young as the key to building humane and sustainable world. (It’s not about a child-centered society where children rule, nor a facile notion of children being all things nice; and it has nothing to do with permissive parenting.) It is a global credo for maximizing joy and reducing suffering by respecting the goodness of every human being at the beginning of life, with benefits rippling in all directions.
Child Honouring has nine principles: Respectful Love, Diversity, Caring Community, Conscious Parenting, Emotional Intelligence, Non-Violence, Safe Environments, Sustainability and Ethical Commerce. They are fairly straightforward and most teachers probably buy into each of the principles already. Recently I took a class where we talked about these principles. We made projects that encorporated the ideas and some of them will likely find their way onto this page.
Raffi, along with co-editor Dr. Sharna Olfman, has put together an anthology which explains Child Honouring: Child Honouring: How to Turn This World Around. The book includes a forward by H.H. The Dalai Lama. The link contains a phone number to order the book, but here are links to find the book at the libaries (sorry, just the Victoria library, apparently Hamilton does not have it!):
I have not yet read the book, but many of my friends have and I have heard nothing but good things about it (perhaps one of my friends would like to share their thoughts).
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