wooden figures connected with string

Conversation Circles: Practicing Peaceableness and Hope with Children and Youth

May 12 and 14, 2026

W

E CANNOT SHIELD OUR CHILDREN ENTIRELY FROM KNOWLEDGE OF THE NEWS, the words of elected officials, actions of ICE, images of violence and war, and messages that the world is in trouble. We need to accompany children and young people with care and intention. One way is to reaffirm that together, we can learn and practice peace. At home, at Meeting, participating in civic life, how can we actively model peace for children as one counterpoint to what is happening around us?

Elise Boulding, Quaker, sociologist and mother of five children, asserted that children are vital and under-appreciated players in the peace process. Now, more than ever, we need to be actively engaged in peacemaking with children; seeking to balance the ugliness around us with the assertion of a world where peace is possible; nurturing a vision of how things can be: peace that will thrive because we also do the work for equality and justice. – Excerpted from a blog by Melinda Wenner Bradley

Join this conversation to explore how we, as Quaker religious educators can accompany children and families in this time when peace and hope are so vitally needed.

QUERIES

    • As we experience what’s happening in the US and globally, what are our children taking in and learning from what they see and hear?

    • How do we help them make sense of our country and its actions in this time? 

    • How do we talk to them about war? As children, and as Friends?

    • And alongside parents, what is our responsibility in faith communities to accompany children in a time of increased societal instability? How do we nurture faith, resilience, compassion — and assure them that they are not alone in what they feel or experience?

    • How do we actively train for, play, study, and learn peace?

      CONVERSATION STARTER

      Melinda Wenner Bradley is one of the founders of QREC and serves on its Steering Circle. Her teaching ministry weaves together interests in children’s spiritual lives, program development, and support for families and teachers in faith communities and schools. She currently serves as the Director of Faith & Play Stories and is a licensed Godly Play trainer. 

REGISTER for Tuesday, May 12 1:00pm Eastern (US/Can)
REGISTER for Thursday, March 14 8:00 pm Eastern (US/Can)

RESOURCES

Create: Prayer Doves for Peace — this ready-made activity is for all ages, and children can take the lead.

Pray: a piece about ways to teach children about prayer is on the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting website.

Share books with children and young people in troubling times:

  • All of Us, By Carin Berger. In simple, poetic language, this picture book imparts a message of hope and unity.
  • Good People Everywhere, By Lynea Gillen. Shares the message that everywhere, people are doing good things – and so can you.
  • Peace Begins with You, by Katherine Scholes. This picture book frames peace as real and possible and peacemaking as right and actionable in our daily lives and on the world stage
  • Most People, Leannah. Written by a 30-year veteran of elementary school teaching, the story “is an antidote to the scary words and images kids hear and see every day,” leading us through a normal day in a city to witness the myriad well-intended interactions of folks.
  • Love is Still Winning, by Doucet) a bilingual story told in English and Spanish, the title says it all!
  • Discipline, by Shaw. a graphic novel set during the Civil War that depicts the moral struggle and spiritual journey of young Quakers (great for teens)

Support people who are parenting and working with children: 

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