We are all connected.  September 11, 2001 and the events of that day -- in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania remind us that we must all strive to understand others and try to create a peaceful world. 

Peace begins with us.  How we act and what we say within our family and our community can create peace. We must foster in our children the practice of recognizing and respecting the opinions and practices of others.

Children do not come pre-equipped with reactions to new experiences in their lives. These reactions are a learned behavior; learned from observations of the reactions of parents, teachers, other adults, and peers. Adults must realize that their own behaviors and prejudices impact children.

Exposing children to different cultures, ethnicities, and religions at a young age will teach them to celebrate differences and embrace people as people, not categorize them as a color, a sex, a race, or a religion.

Adults are the role models. They can foster acceptance and appreciation of other cultures by:

• Exposing Children to diverse books, television, toys and music. Speaking out against racial slurs, sexist comments, jokes that target groups of people, and bigoted remarks. Keeping silent will teach the children that these words are acceptable.
• Telling children to respect themselves and others.
• Helping children to become peacemakers. 

Kids Care Clubs has developed several projects that foster tolerance in children, in order to build character through good habits and awareness.