CNVC Parenting Project: Peaceful Families, Peaceful World

Coordinated by Inbal Kashtan

Purpose of the Project

To support families to live with compassion, connection, and peace, and to make such families the norm in the world, though establishing a world-wide network of NVC support for parents.

History and Background

Since 2001, the NVC Parenting Project has been aiming to support the transformation of parenting practices. This aim arises both out of the desire to contribute to parents’ and children’s ability to meet their needs in the context of family life, and to the recognition that our parenting in large part shapes the adults of the next generation. If we want to grow into a society where everyone’s needs can be met, working to transform parenting practices is of paramount importance.

Since the project’s beginning, I have led workshops for parents around the country and spoken at national and regional conferences, published approximately a dozen articles (a few of them in national publications), published a booklet on parenting with NVC (“Parenting from Your Heart: Sharing the Gifts of Compassion, Connection, and Choice”), led four NVC family camps, moderated a thriving international NVC-parenting email discussion group with hundreds of parents, and supported other NVC trainers and practice group leaders with questions about teaching parents.

2005 Highlights

2005 was a particularly exciting year for the project. Here are some highlights:

  • BayNVC’s North America NVC Leadership Program opened its program to parents with their children, offering a children’s program at all four retreats and enabling parents to attend who would not have been able to do so otherwise. As a result, there are parents around the U.S. and Canada who are now sharing NVC with other parents
  • The California Family Camp drew 75 people this year (staff included)
  • Family camps took place in 3 additional locations, including a new camp in Seattle, WA, whose organizer attended the CA family camp
  • The first coaching group for parents who teach NVC to parents began in the San Francisco Bay Area
  • Articles of mine were translated and published in several countries in Latin America and Europe
  • The Peaceful Families, Peaceful World project became a joint project of CNVC and BayNVC, and BayNVC allocated $25,000 from its recent fundraiser to the project.

Current Status of the Project

The Project Leader position is a part-time volunteer position. I have developed a detailed strategic plan that, if pursued, could include 1-4 full-time, paid positions.

Goals:

  1. Increase the number of
    1. parents using NVC, and
    2. trainers able to effectively teach NVC to parents
  2. Deepen the practice of NVC among parents who are already committed to it
  3. Extend the capacity of an NVC network to meet
    1. parents’ needs for support, learning and community through a world-wide network of parent-educators
    2. trainers’ needs for support, learning and community through a world-wide network of NVC trainers
  4. Expand awareness of how NVC can contribute to peaceful families and a peaceful world in growing circles of parents, family support providers (from schools to social service agencies), and the general public.

Program Areas:

  1. Direct programs for parents (of all economic levels) who want to learn and implement NVC in their lives;
  2. Wide outreach to increase awareness of NVC as a new parenting paradigm (such as publications and media);
  3. Leadership programs for parent-educators and for NVC trainers;
  4. NVC training to service providers who support parents (including schools, counselors, parenting organizations, and the like).

Plans for the Coming Year

family camps

Family camps have sprung up in at least 4 countries and are still spreading. You can find family camps by selecting the topic "family" on the "find a training" page.

Parent Peer Leadership Program (PPLP)

With Inbal Kashtan and Program Assistants

A nine-month training program aimed at nurturing and developing peer leaders who are committed to spreading NVC to parents in their communities, especially where there are no NVC trainers. Inspired by La Leche League's model of lay leadership, we hope to reach parents around the world with consciousness, skills and support that are critical to making peace within families and in our world. The PPLP includes a week-long family camp in California, but the rest of the program is non-residential, including weekly study and writing assignments, twice-a-month teleclasses, weekly buddy support, and individualized tele-support from Program Assistants. There are pre-requisites for participation and participants are asked to commit an estimated 6-8 hours weekly to this program and to form and lead parent groups in their areas for a year after the program.

teleclasses

See the following websites for teleclasses in parenting:
www.baynvc.org//baynvc_events.php and
www.growingcompassion.org

how can you contribute to this project?

  1. Donate to this project.
  2. Bring NVC to your community of parents by starting study and practice groups and inviting trainers to teach parents in your playgroups, schools or neighborhoods. For more information go to the parenting resources page.
  3. Keep me informed of ways that NVC is contributing to your family's life. This will assist me in collecting and disseminating information about how NVC is meeting families' needs, and may be used, with your permission, in a book on NVC and parenting.
  4. Let me know about books, resources or groups that you believe would contribute to this project.
  5. If you are aware of funding sources for working with parents—individuals or foundations—that may be interested in our work, please let me know.

Do you have other ideas about how you may want to contribute to the project with time or other resources? I would be happy to hear from you.

For further information, please contact Inbal Kashtan. You can email her from this page: Inbal Kashtan Contact Form or telephone her at +1.510.433.0700.