28/09/2025
Children are watching...
We teach our children to use kind words, to include others, and to stand up for what is right. Yet what do they actually consume from the world around them? Leaders bullying their way through, wars on the news, and TV shows where cruelty is entertainment. Sometimes they also see violence closer to home — in our communities, schools, even in our families. In such a landscape, it’s no wonder we struggle to be compassionate and respectful.
Children are not only listening, they are watching. We try to teach kindness and empathy, but we live in a society that normalises violence, celebrates bullies, encourages submission to oppression, and glorifies what we say we reject.
Despite campaigns against bullying, gender-based violence, and countless programs of “awareness”, these behaviours are ever-present in our everyday lives.
So I wonder: what are we giving our kids? What kind of world are we asking them to grow into? And perhaps we should also ask: what do we consume as adults? How do these messages live in our behaviours, our thoughts, our relationships?
In my therapy space, I see the weight of these contradictions. Children and adults alike carry confusion, and many feel pressured to be “strong” in ways that disconnect them from kindness and creativity. Through counselling and expressive arts, I witness how healing begins when we create safe spaces to explore these mixed messages. To rediscover that kindness, empathy, and creativity are not weaknesses, but strengths.
Maybe change begins when we look not only at what we tell our children, but also at what we consume, what we celebrate, and what we model. 🌱
Photo credit: 'Girl frisking soldier'; Banksy, 2007
