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Take Action -

Take Action 

As an organization, CEASE is all about action.  We act on a variety of public issues to help young children as they grow.

Act4CEASE list serve:

CEASE now has an action arm, a list serve called Act4CEASE which alerts members by e-mail to opportunities for public policy actions to help children (and their parents and teachers) to survive and thrive in a more peaceful, healthier world.  Many of the messages on the list serve relate to children and the media, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The list serve messages come when issues require our individual and collective action, maybe 5 to 10 times a month, although this frequency may increase with the new issues. 
        To join the list serve, send an e-mail to jsurr@verizon.net

Current CEASE Action Campaigns:

Plenty to do!

1. Stop the wars.
2. Eliminate nuclear weapons, don’t build them.
3. Phase Out Nuclear Power Plants
4. Support the creation of a U.S. Department of Peace.
5. Reduce violence in children’s lives.
6. Save Children from Schools that Don’t Respect Them or their Stages of Development.
7. Teach young children to live in peace.
8. Ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
9. Protect children from environmental hazards.
10. Reclaim childhood from commercialization.
11. Promote a Balanced Understanding of the Effects of Screen Media on Young Children, including Limits on Screen Time for Infants, Toddlers, and Young Children.
12. Support immigration laws that keep children safe.

1. Stop the Wars!                       

CEASE has passed a Resolution, urging NAEYC and all early childhood organizations to speak out about the harm war causes to children where ever it is happening, and here in the U.S. as it undermines children’s sense of security and the hope that conflicts can be resolved without violence.  War deprives children of the safety they need and the resources that should be devoted to their healthy development.  CEASE urges the speedy end of the Iraq war, the Afghanistan war and the continued reliance on violence to resolve global conflicts.  In 2009 we wrote to First Lady Michelle Obama and the NAEYC Governing Board about this.  And we must all speak out against violence as a solution to global problems.  Please communicate with the President, stating your concerns in this area while congratulating him on winning the Nobel Peace Prize.  Passionate advocacy for alternative solutions is needed.  See more at www.peacefultomorrows.org

2.  Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, and Stop Building the Arsenal:                     

Since its inception in 1979, CEASE has advocated for nuclear disarmament.  Thirty years later, the nuclear danger is still very much with us.  We believe that we have a responsibility to our children, grandchildren and future generations to end the threat that nuclear weapons pose to humanity and all life.  Although President Obama has declared his Administration in favor of this goal, our nuclear arsenal continues to take money needed for children and other real needs, and the threat continues. See http://www.nuclearweaponsfree.org

3. Phase Out Nuclear Power Plants:                                    

Nuclear disarmament will be threatened as long as nuclear power plants continue to need and produce nuclear fuel such as plutonium.  Fukushima, Cherbonyl, and Three Mile Island all showed the acute vulnerability of nuclear power plants to disastrous releases of radiation by terrorists, by accident, or by natural causes.  Nuclear fuel will continue to pollute the Earth long after we are gone.  See http://www.facebook.com/end.nuclear.now and www.ippnw.org.

4.  Support the creation of a U.S. Department of Peace:                                    

CEASE continues to work to support Representative Dennis Kucinich’s Bill, H.R. 808, in the U.S. House of Representatives, to create a Department of Peace, calling for the elevation of the U.S. Institute of Peace to a Cabinet-level Department.  The primary function of the Department of Peace will be to research, articulate, and facilitate nonviolent solutions to domestic and international conflict.

5. Reduce Violence in Children’s Lives:                                                                        

We work to end corporal punishment and the physical, mental, and emotional abuse of children, especially in public and private institutions where children are educated but also in the home.  We work to reduce the exposure of young children to violence in the home, in the community, in the world, and in the electronic and other entertainment media.  Our campaign to get NAEYC to regard war as a form of damaging violence against children in its position statement is continuing.

6. Save Children from Schools that Don’t Respect Them or their Stages of Development:                                    

CEASE supports the Save our Schools March, SaveOurSchoolsMarch.org, which brought thousands ofeducators, parents, and concerned citizens to Washington, DC on July 30 to stand up for quality public education for all children.  Many CEASE members attended both the march and the 2-day conference leading up to it, and others who couldn’t get to Washington participated in local protests held around the country.  The SOS March coalesced individuals and groups into a new grass roots movement that is raising awareness about the harmful education reform policies embodied in No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.  These “corporate ed reforms” promote charter schools and the privatization of our nation’s schools.  They have created a punitive environment where teachers’ jobs, pay and their school’s survival are tied to student test scores.  Standardized tests are held up as the solution to the achievement gap rather than diminishing poverty and the inequalities in our education system that are its root cause.  The over-focus on tests has narrowed the curriculum in our schools and led to teacher-directed, rote learning, the erosion of play, and the loss of imagination, original thinking, and a love of learning in our children.        A group of early childhood educators, with CEASE members well in attendance, caucused in DC.  Our goal was to write one sentence—one comprehensive demand—that would bring early childhood issues into focus as part of the SOS Movement.  We decided to state our demand this way: Early childhood education (birth-8) that respects young children's need to learn through active engagement and play, which tests cannot assess.   SOS accepted this wording as part of its platform.

7. Teach Young Children to Live in Peace:                                                                  

CEASE works to help children learn and live nonviolent approaches to conflict resolution for public and private issues.  Through them we work with their parents and public officials to do the same, alongside several other organizations [link to links_peace_education_sites.html].  We are continuing to try to convince NAEYC that peace education must be the foundation for its new position statement on violence in the lives of children. The 2010 CEASE Seminar addresses these issues. Please help us in this effort with your own communications to NAEYC and its Governing Board members.

8. Ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child:                                            

Only the US has failed to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.  194 countries have ratified it.  The US Campaign is working together with 200 national groups to move the Convention forward to ratification. www.childrightscampaign.org
        Children need the special protections offered by this Convention.  The US was an active participant in the development of the Convention in 1979, but ten years later, when 194 countries had ratified it and it became international law, the US failed to join.  Now is the time to ensure that US policy makers accept this national and international responsibility to protect children.   CEASE participated in several events at the 2009 NAEYC Conference to promote the CRC

9. Protect our world from global warming and other environmental hazards: 

CEASE is acutely aware that global warming is the most serious environmental challenge to the health and safety of our children and their children’s children.  In order to ensure a safe environment for future generations, we must act immediately.  We recommend that readers follow the advice of The Environmental Defense Fund and follow out the many actions we can all take described there to make an immediate positive impact on global warming. 
        CEASE is alert to other threats to our future generations such as the impact of pollution with all of its poisons on the health of our oceans, our water and our air.  We are cognizant of the waste of energy and resources our current lifestyle causes and encourage the use of sustainable practices such as purchasing locally grown food, using less energy in our homes and making wise choices in our use of transportation.  See www.chej.org The Center for Health, Environment and Justice, which has launched Green Flag Schools, a campaign to help children and families create green schools, and other campaigns for building safe communities. 

10.  Reclaim Childhood from Commercialization:                                                   

Today’s children are being bombarded with media, toys and products that reflect our fast-paced, sexualized, commercial culture.  CEASE is working to maintain our children’s healthy development and understanding of their own identity. In 2007 and 2008 CEASE wrote to the NAEYC Governing Board about this.  In 2010 CEASE joined many others in asking NAEYC to address the influences of electronic media more generally in its proposed technology position statement. CEASE also publishes a handout called “Buymebusters”, to help parents and teachers to develop ways to reduce children’s urges to have the latest toys.  Two books by CEASE members addressing these concerns are:  “Taking Back Childhood:  Helping Your Kids Thrive in a Fast-Paced, Media-Saturated, Violence-Filled World” by Nancy Carlsson-Paige and “So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids” by Diane E. Levin and Jean Kilbourne.

11. Promote a Balanced Understanding of the Effects of Screen Media on Young Children, including Limits on Screen Time for Infants, Toddlers, and Young Children: 

Infants, toddlers, and young children are vulnerable to long-lasting harmful effects from exposure to screen media before they are emotionally and cognitively prepared to cope with them.  Pediatricians (see http://www.aap.org/healthtopics/mediause.cfm) and the White House recommend no screen time for children under two and very limited screen time for children 3-5.  Even so a growing number of parents, aided by child care providers and organizations allow children an unhealthy amount of screen time.  We need to work for a balanced understanding of the role of screen media in their lives.  See www.healthymediachoices.org.        

12.  Support immigration laws that keep children safe:                                      

CEASE is speaking out and encouraging others to do the same against immigration raids particularly focused on Latino workers throughout the country. It has been reported that as many as 13,000 people have been arrested nationwide, affecting families and especially children of the families. Contact your representative to protest these raids and their effects on families and children.  For additional information, contact the National Immigration Justice Center.
        After Arizona passed a brutal immigration law in 2010, CEASE wrote a letter to NAEYC, which was holding its Professional Development Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, soon after the law was passed, to speak up more visibly and specifically about the damage that law would do to America's young children.
        We were pleased that NAEYC responded very positively to our concerns, providing ample opportunities to its members in Phoenix to express themselves about the issue inside and outside the Institute, and going on record in opposition to Arizona's new law.

For membership information and more on CEASE goals and activities go to our Contact Us page.

CEASE is a member-supported, volunteer organization. We hope you will join us on our Membership page,
and learn more about how you get involved on our Take Action Page.