Who We Are - Recent Activities 2010   Who We Are Recent Activities NAEYC Related Activities Who We Are - History Who We Are - Peggy Schirmer Chronological list of Seminars Who We Are - Peace Awards Who We Are - The Organization

Throughout the year, CEASE members actualize the vision of our founder,
Peggy Schirmer, to make the world a safer place for children and families.

June 2010 Leadership of CEASE Annual Retreat

In June 2010 the leadership of CEASE held its annual retreat in Grass Valley and Sierra City, California, hosted by our CEASE West members. We had a very productive several days, reviewing the past year, the current landscape of early childhood care and education, the challenges faced in the wider world by the children and families in our care, and also planning our activities for the coming year.
We took action:
• to thank Mark Ginsberg of NAEYC for his help to us over the years and for his support of our stance against the restrictive Arizona immigration law,
• to ask NAEYC to include a broader focus on electronic media in general in their forthcoming position statement on technology;
• to plan our CEASE/Violence in the Lives of Children seminars at the NAEYC conferences for 2010 and 2011. The seminar this November in Anaheim will focus on developing children's instincts for caring and empathy as a basis for a more engaged citizenship among them as adults. The 2011 seminar, in Orlando, is tentatively planned to focus on building peace among children, based on a questionnaire about children's views about peace and its absence.
• to engage our membership in more interaction between each other, including us, so that we will become a more cohesive, effective, participatory organization, through a Facebook page, more frequent communications to all members, and continued improvements in this Website.

National Association for the Education of Young Children Conference Update

The CEASE Seminar at the NAEYC conference in Washington, DC in November 2009 focused on media: helping children make sense of the media to which they are exposed, using media appropriately and helping families discover and use alternatives to media. The presenters, Sharon Davisson, Joyce Daniels, Diane Levin, Geralyn MacLaughlin and Lucy Stroock told stories about each topic followed by small group discussions facilitated by CEASE members.
        Most of the small group responses about helping children make sense of media they are exposed to revolved around parents' ability to discuss with their children what they are seeing, watching or reading together.
        There was discussion about helping parents (families) understand that fear can result from children's exposure to inappropriate media. A suggestion for helping parents with this understanding was to have parents look back on their own fears as a child – What was real for you about being scared?
        There were many responses to the query about using media responsibly.
Some of the ideas were:
• getting children involved in making their own videos or films to share with family and friends to create memories of special events and celebrations,
• offering children the opportunity to create films as research for school projects,
• recording families' home languages for children to listen to at school.
        A grandmother sent audio tapes of family stories to her grand daughter. They were cherished as a lasting memory both when she was alive and when she died.
The query about what can be done to help families find alternatives to media brought some creative ideas to share with families. These included:
• turning off the car radio to talk, share stories, sing,
• limiting children's use of screens,
• advocating (by becoming members of CEASE and/or Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood) for limiting corporate funds used to control the use of products in the many public markets available to children of all ages.
        The seminar itself was an alternative to media as the room buzzed with interacting people. Presenting and sharing thoughtful ideas for media on and media off provided a rich prelude to CEASE's 30th anniversary celebration.

Joyce Daniels

To see a complete list of ideas please visit our ALTERNATIVES TO SCREEN TIME

CEASE member, Nancy Carlsson-Paige was the keynote speaker for this year’s CA AEYC conference.  Nancy’s inspiring address was based on her recent book, Taking Back Childhood: Helping Your Kids Thrive in a Fast-Paced, Media-Saturated, Violence-Filled World.

Update from CEASE West

L to R: Pat Dorman, Joyce Daniels and Marilyn Pierce

Last March at the California AEYC Conference in Sacramento, Nancy Carlson-Paige at her key-note presentation,  previewed the new and critically acclaimed film (DVD), "Consuming Kids: the Commercialization of Childhood," sponsored by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC),  This film describes marketers spending $BILLIONS  to entice children and their families to buy everything from fatty, unhealthy foods to inappropriate baby items and violent, bloody video games.  Also outlined are responses for parents, advocates and others who want to take an active part in stopping these horrific practices.
        Having seen this film, Joyce Daniels, Pat Dorman and Marilyn Pearce, CEASE and local AEYC members, responded by sponsoring two viewings of the film, a month apart at a local library. We prepared handouts and posted publicity in preschools/child care facilities, community colleges, at the child care resource and referral agency and with the CCFC website where film showings are listed in the Brave New Theater. Both evening viewings were well attended and many reactions were expressed during the after-showing discussion.  Several participants requested  information about how to obtain the DVD and how to arrange a viewing for their agencies, schools or meetings. Since the public viewings at the library, the film was shown to a High Scope group, a parenting group at a local charter school, a local AEYC affiliate meeting and with the Brave New Theater website, where film showings are listed.
        It has been like a stone dropping in the water with a ripple affect whereby the word is getting out and we continue to think of ways to show this DVD and involve more parents and others interested in this film.
        If you are interested in getting involved, the website for CCFC is www.commercialfreechildhood.org

Joyce Daniels

CEASE members Susan Hopkins and Gaby Litsky join Jose-Luis Orozco in song.

West Coast CEASE members are a consistent presence at the California AEYC Center for Social Change. This year we had the pleasure of participating in the most exciting and rewarding exercise in recent memory. The exercise originated from another group we all belong to – the CaAEYC special interest forum, NonViolence in the Lives of Children Project (NVP).
At the NVP retreat this winter, one of the new NVP members, Gaby Litsky, suggested that we use Greg Mortenson's book, Three Cups of Tea, as the focus for our approach to the Peace Area of the Center for Social Change. She envisioned using the cultural formality of serving guests tea as a metaphor for how we build relationships and community in our ECE settings. Wow! Her idea excited all in the room, and immediately our collaborative style was in full form!
        The result was an aesthetically appealing, inviting, and deeply meaningful Peace Area alive with animated discussions and generous sharing of ideas. Conference participants were invited to start at our "First Cup of Tea" table where it was explained that in Afghanistan & Pakistan, a guest is invited in for a cup of tea as a cultural formality. And using that as a metaphor for our own work in ECE, with the first cup of tea, we build trust as we welcome others. The "Second Cup of Tea" table represents the cultural message of intention to build a deeper relationship through listening and learning. And, finally, the "Third Cup of Tea" table represented acknowledgement of a person as a valued member of the community – and with the third cup of tea we commit to work together as a compassionate community.
        As you can see from the abundance of cups in the photograph, participants were generous in sharing their ideas. We posted nearly 200 ideas! The "One Cup" welcoming ideas ranged from "Meeting with each child's family to build trust and relationship before they come to school" to "Be open and listen with a kind heart" and "Give of yourself." The "Two Cup" deepening relationship ideas were rich! One participant wrote "Welcome their traditions and stories. We start with the day you were born and who was there and how they felt." And finally, the "Three Cup" of a compassionate community brought forth marvelous contributions. One wrote, "Hands make the work lighter. Hearts make the bond stronger. Teach compassion. Do away with bias. Show love and care to each other. Listen to each other."
        For more information about NonViolence in the Lives of Children Project please check CEASE's Close Partners links as well as NVP's website at www.nvpchildren.org.

Sharon Davisson

Our Children: A Million Tomorrows  

Each year our local Northern California peace group, El Dorado County Peace and Justice Community, in Placerville, celebrates THE SEASON FOR NONVIOLENCE, commemorating the memorial anniversaries of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi and Cesar Chavez, with actions that promote and encourage us to consider our personal roles in creating peace through nonviolent means.  
As my contribution to this annual event, I exhibited a collection of my photographs of children from the United States, Mexico and Vietnam, at a local cafe. Information for The Campaign for the U.S. Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), childrightscampaign.org, was featured and available during the month-long show and reception. The campaign is actively working with our government representatives to ratify this treaty and work with all nations to make the rights of children a centerpiece in decision-making that affects the well-being of children. One of the ways to improve the chances of a peaceful tomorrow is to ensure that the needs of all children are met. With that goal, the United Nations, in 1989, developed the "Rights of the Child" treaty. All nations have ratified this document, except the United States and this campaign is one of the critical advocacy issues of our time. 
        The exhibit, in collaboration with my teaching and photography partner, Janis Arnell, OUR CHILDREN: A MILLION TOMORROWS, was inspired by Gandhi's famous words "If we are to reach real peace in the world, we shall have to begin with the children." I decided to search the web for the source of this quote and found that Gandhi had spoken in 1931 at the Montessori Training College in London. His speech was printed in a newspaper, "Young India" and appears on this webpage, http://www.peace.ca/ montessoriandgandhi.html. He spoke of the millions of poor children in India, their basic needs for education, and the lessons taught by children. Gandhi's powerful words are connected to the work we do to make the future, the tomorrow, of this planet sustainable and peaceful, always returning to the world we create in the present for our children. 
        Gandhi's quote in its entirety reads, "You have very truly remarked that if we are to reach real peace in this world and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with children and if they will grow up in their natural innocence, we won't have the struggle, we won't have to pass fruitless idle resolutions, but we shall go from love to love and peace to peace, until at last all the corners of the world are covered with that peace and love for which, consciously or unconsciously, the whole world is hungering."
        CEASE and the many advocacy groups around the world continue to work together for the peace that Gandhi inspired. 

Irene Lipshin

A Season for Peace and Nonviolence:

Northern California CEASE members and grandmothers, Sharon Davisson and Susan Hopkins, have been inspired to create an interactive workshop to dialogue and share solutions,  especially related to the concerns about youth and media, violence, and separation from human interaction.  So, we organized a workshop for the Nevada County "Season of Nonviolence" to share concerns, to dialogue about values, and to experience some activities to "connect generations."  The CEASE web site gave us wonderful resources including books for children, web site links, and adult materials.

One Size Does Not Fit All

One Size Does Not Fit All Op Ed. in the Boston Globe by Diane Levin and Nancy Carlsson Paige.
On boston.com at the following link, http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion