New Web site on violence prevention
APA and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) have launched a new Web site dedicated to providing practical help to stop violence against children. The site is part of a larger national campaign called ACT--Adults and Children Together--Against Violence and is located at www.actagainstviolence.org.
The ACT Web site is part of a multilevel, national violence prevention campaign developed by APA and NAEYC. The site is aimed at reaching adults who raise, care for, and teach children ages 0 to 8. But it will also serve as a great resource for APA members who work in community, education or public health settings.
The initiative is based on more than four decades of social science research indicating that because violence is a learned behavior, violence prevention can also be taught. Those people who are most influential in children's lives--parents, teachers and other caregivers--are in the best position to teach nonviolence by modeling it in their own behavior and in their interactions with children.
And because this Web site makes the latest psychological findings available and easily accessible to the public, www.actagainstviolence.org is also a valuable resource for APA members who want to help their clients find solid information on issues such as child development, discipline and how to select high-quality child care.
With information in English and Spanish, the site addresses a range of violence prevention topics and offers tips on how to handle challenging behaviors, suggestions for positive learning activities, and ways to teach anger management. It gives parents an in-depth look at what they can do to teach young children about the media, along with strategies designed to reduce the impact of media violence on young children. It also offers teachers techniques for classroom management.
--B. BEISEL
