“We all face a chance of war, and we cannot be unprepared. UNICEF, along with the rest of the United Nations family, has been working on contingency plans. Our intentions are simple: to be ready to help meet humanitarian needs, especially those of children, in the event of armed conflict.”

Carol Bellamy, Executive Director, UNICEF International

The uncertainty of the war in Iraq, along with the memory of recent terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, may be causing anxiety to children and adults.

Armed conflict is a difficult subject for children, parents, and teachers. Talking about peace is a good start. Children know intuitively what “peace” means as it relates to “quiet,” “calm” and “cooperation” in the classroom and on the playground.

Here are a few suggestions for ways in which teachers and parents can help children feel safe and build respect for themselves and others.

Parents

•               Reflect on your own fears, biases, understandings, and anxiety before talking with your children.

•               Recognize that children’s fears are real and legitimate.

•               Minimize the time your child spends watching television. The news can sometimes cause children to feel confused and overwhelmed. Watch television with your child.

•               Reassure your children that they are safe and valued at home and at school.

•               Model respect for others by breaking down stereotypes about Muslims, Arabs, peoples from Iraq, Afghanistan, the United States of America, and diverse enthocultural, racial, and faith communities. Avoid using generalizations about any community.

•               If your children want to talk about world events, take the time to answer their questions in a reassuring way.

•               Do not feel you must have all answers. Together with your children, read books and gather information.

Teachers

•               Reflect on your own fears, biases, and anxieties before talking to students about current events.

•               If you are not comfortable talking about these issues, do not feel you must have all the answers. You may need to talk with your board’s diversity consultant or  coordinator. Consider inviting leaders from diverse communities into your classroom.

•               Ensure that any discussion follows your board’s policies on diversity, equity principles, safe schools, and human rights policies.

•               Be aware of sensitive and controversial issues.

•               Model respect for others by breaking down stereotypes and presenting accurate information about racialized communities, such as Arabs, Muslims, and Jews.

•               Reassure your students that they are valued and safe at school.

•               Invite students to talk about their fears and anxieties with you, their parent, guardian, guidance counsellor, or other trusted adult.

•               Create an open environment for students to report incidents of discrimination or harassment.

•               Be sensitive to any students who have a lived experience of armed conflict or who have family members directly affected by a potential conflict.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

Ages 4 – 8

Eleanor Coess. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. Puffin. 1999. A young girl learns she has ‘atom bomb disease’ and makes a thousand paper cranes in the hopes that the gods will make her well again. Based on a true story.

Florence Heide and Judith Gilliland. Sami and the Time of the Troubles. Clarion Books. 1992. A realistic picture book about a child’s perspective of war in Lebanon. 

Haemi Balgassi. Peacebound Trains. Econo-Clad Books. 2000. Sumi’s grandmother tells the story of her family’s escape from Seoul during the Korean war, while they watch the trains which will eventually bring her mother back from army service.

Holly Near. The Great Peace March. Owlet. March 1997. A song written in 1986 by folk singer Holly Near, illustrated with paintings showing peace as a dynamic goal.

Itah Sadu. Name Calling. Women’s Press. 1992. Uses storytelling to talk about the challenges of an interracial primary school with both humour and sensitivity.

Katherine Scholes. Peace Begins with You. Little, Brown and Company, Inc. 1990. Simply explains the concept of peace, why conflicts occur, how conflicts can be resolved in positive ways, and how to protect peace.

Michelemaria Surat and Vo-Dinh Mai. Angel Child, Dragon Child. Bt Bound. 1999. A Vietnamese child tries to adjust to life in the United States.

Ken Mochizuki. Baseball Saved Us. Lee & Low Books. 1995. A young Japanese-American boy and his family are sent to an internment camp during World War II. Na’ima bint Robert. The Swirling Hijaab. Mantra Lingua Ltd. 2002.

www.mantralingua.com. A dual language (English plus a choice of one of 19 other languages) picture book about the feelings a little Muslim girl has for her head scarf.

Naomi Wakan. One Day A Stranger Came. Annick Press. 1994. A child proposes a compromise between farmers who have become alienated over a water tax.

Paula Dejoie. My Skin Is Brown. Black Butterfly Children. 1997. A book affirming black as a beautiful colour for skin.

Saoussan Askar (contributor) and Robert Munsch. From Far Away. Annick Press. 1995. A family from war-torn Lebanon arrives in Canada. School is not easy for little Saoussan, who speaks no English.

Schim Schimmel. Dear Children of the Earth: A Letter from Home. Northword Press. 1994. A letter from Mother Earth asking for help from children everywhere.

Shelley Moore Thomas. Somewhere Today. A Book of Peace. Albert Whitman & Co. 1998. Provides ways in which children and adults can bring about peace by helping and caring for one another and their world.

Ages 9-12

Eve Bunting. Gleam and Glow. Harcourt Inc. 2001. An eight-year-old boy searches for hope in a grim landscape and finds it with the help of two goldfish – Gleam and Glow. Based on a true story from Bosnia.

Linda Granfield. In Flanders Fields: The Story of the Poem by John McCrae. Stoddart Kids. 1995. This unusual book discusses the life and wartime experiences of Canadian poet John McCrae, his writing of the poem, the effect of its publication on morale and enlistment, and the history of “poppy day” remembrance traditions from 1919 to the present.

Mokhtar Moktefi. The Arabs: In the Golden Age. Millbrook. 2002. A non-fiction account of the contributions and cultural interactions of the Arab world in Medieval times.

Nancy Luenn. Celebrations of Light: A Year of Holidays Around the World. Atheneum. 1998. From a Brazilian New Year’s celebration to the African-American holiday of Kwanzaa, text and illustrations highlight 12 festivals from around the world.

Rabbi Howard I. Bogot. Shalom, Salaam, Peace. Central Conference of American Rabbis Press. New York. 1999. A poetic call for peace in the Middle East – and everywhere. The tri-lingual text (Arabic, English, and Hebrew) is accompanied by full­colour illustrations.

Sheila Hamanaka. Peace Crane. William Morrow & Co. New York. 1995. A book about cultural differences of children through the similarities of their hopes for a better world.

Sheryl McFarlane. Waiting for the Whales. Philomel Books. 1993. A little girl and her grandfather spend summer evenings waiting on shore for the whales to come.

Sue Adler. Mandela for Young Beginners: A Time To Be Free. Writers and Readers. 1997. A black South African family answers questions from a young white girl about key events in the life of Nelson Mandela.

Sybella Wilkes. One Day We Had to Run: Refugee Children Tell Their Stories in Words and Paintings. Millbrook Printing. 1995. Out of print. Refugee children from Somalia, the Sudan, and Ethiopia share their feelings of loss.

Ages 12-14

Alice Mead. Adem’s Cross. Farrar Straus & Giroux. 1996. A bleak, sometimes grisly, depiction of rural life in Kosova during the Serb rule, from the perspective of a Kosovar Albanian teenager.

Barbara Lewis. Kids With Courage: True Stories About Young People Making a Difference. Free Spirit Publishing. 1992. True stories from 18 young people who prove anyone, at any age, can make a difference.

Benjamin Zephaniah. Refugee Boy. Bloomsbury Children’s Books. 1992. Alem’s mother is Eritrean and his father Ethiopian. Neither country welcomes them. Alem’s father takes him to England and leaves him to fend for himself, believing he will be safer there than in his native land.

Garry Davis. Dear World, A Global Odyssey. Xlibris Corp. 2001. The story of one-man’s critique of nationalism and his practical action for world peace.

UNICEF. I dream of peace. Images of war by children of former Yugoslavia. Harper Collins Publishers, Inc. New York. 1994. The thoughts and paintings of children in former Yugoslavia as they deal with war-related psychological trauma.

CURRICULUM RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS

Kindergarten to grade 8

Respecting Cultures and Honouring Differences - A Supplement to We’re Erasing Prejudice for Good. The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario. Toronto. 2002. An annotated resource for teachers in kindergarten to grade 8.

We’re Erasing Prejudice for Good. Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario. Toronto. 1998. A annotated resource for teachers in kindergarten to grade 8.

Primary

Judy Kwasnica, Jan Moxey, Annemarie Shrouder. The School That Equity Built. Includes a 14-lesson “Integrated Discoveries” unit. Aimed primarily at grade 2, directions are given for adaptations to grades 1, 3 and 4. Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario. Toronto. 2001.

Ramadan Mubarak! A grade 2 unit on the Islamic Holy Month of Ramadan and Holiday of Eid-Ul-Fitr for Traditions and Celebrations. Contact Jasmin Zine. E-mail: pathwaysmail@yahoo.com.

Junior

The Islamic Medieval World. A grade 4 social studies unit. Contact Jasmin Zine. E-mail: pathways@yahoo.com.

Intermediate

Towards Understanding. Activities to teach children how to break down stereotypes and avoid discrimination toward Muslims. Muslim Educational Network Training and Outreach Service (MENTORS). 416-269-8562.

Community Resources

Community Role Models. Vol. I – Toronto. Vol II – Thames Valley. Annotated biographies of local role models available for community meetings. Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario. Toronto. 2002.

Muslim Educational Network Training and Outreach Service (MENTORS). 416-269­8562.

Federation of Muslim Women. 905-896-7337. www.fmw.org.

Videos

Islam: Empire of the Faith. PBS. Three-part series. 180 minutes. Two tapes. An excellent and informative account of the first 1,000 years of Islamic history.

Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet. PBS. 2002. Tells the story of the 7^th century prophet who changed the world in 23 years and continues to shape the lives of more than 1.2 billion people today.

Holidays for Children. Video Series. Schlessinger. Combines traditional music, illustrated folk tales, and creative animation to give children an appreciation of their own cultural heritage and the cultures and traditions of others.

Online

UNICEF. Global Schoolhouse. Resources on teaching for peace and conflict resolution. www.unicef.ca.

United Nations Association in Canada. What Kind of World. A resource to raise awareness about the UN and global issues with grade 4-8 students. www.unac.org.

www.media-awareness.ca. Excellent suggestions for helping kids cope with media coverage of war and traumatic events.

Accessing Resources

To access these resources, consider  visiting your local library. If these books are not available, ask the librarian to recommend others, • ordering through your local bookstore, • ordering online.

To access resources prepared by ETFO, visit www.etfo.org and click on shopETFO.

Helping Children Feel Safe in Uncertain Times was prepared for the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) by Suzanne Muir, Diversity Consultant, Halton District School Board, and Zubeda Vahed, former Equity Officer, Race Relations, for the Peel District School Board, currently an independent Education and Equity Consultant

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario represents 65,000 teachers and education workers and is the largest teachers’ federation in Canada outside of Quebec.

CM:JS Updated: March 18, 2003