Raffi Foundation: The Child Honouring Convenant
Photo by Moodthy Alghorairi
The Canadian Child Care Federation posted a recent online article: “A Child Honouring Approach for our Practice as ECEs”.
The article outlines The Child Honouring Covenant, developed by children’s troubadour and child advocate Raffi Cavoukian, rooted in the belief that “designing society for the greatest good begins with meeting the priority needs of the very young”. Child Honouring affirms that “all children are created whole, born with innate intelligence, with dignity and wonder, and worthy of respect. Every child is entitled to love, to dream, and to belong to a loving community.”
The Child Honouring Covenant is composed of nine principles:
1. Respectful Love: Seeing each child as a whole person, a legitimate being with their own voice, their own wisdom, their own way of being in the world.
2. Nonviolence: Ensuring there is no physical harm, and beyond that, living with compassion in homes, classrooms and communities.
3. Emotional Intelligence: Allowing space for exploring feelings in a safe setting, and recognizing the value of self-regulation, cooperation, play and creativity.
4. Safe Environments: Ensuring protection from neglect, overstimulation, and “from the commercial forces that seek to shape their minds before they have the tools to understand what is happening”.
5. Diversity: Promoting expression of the abundance and wealth of cultures, intelligences, ways of being human, and ways of experiencing the natural world.
6. Caring Community: Providing a nurturing space in which a child can grow and develop
7. Sustainability: Protecting and caring for the world children will inherit.
8. Ethical Commerce: Monitoring and discerning the commercial world that will shape children’s futures.
9. Conscious Parenting and Caregiving: Encouraging and supporting caregivers and educators “to reflect on their own upbringing, to practice their own emotional regulation, and to ensure they are caring for themselves as they care for little ones.”
Acknowledging that so much of the care for young children takes place in ECE settings, “Child Honouring reminds ECEs that they are not simply managing behaviour or meeting developmental milestones. They are, in the truest sense, helping to shape the future.”
The Raffi Foundation for Child Honouring offers an 18-hour evidence-based online course that guides educators, parents, and community members through the Nine Principles, with practical tools and “take action” segments in every module, empowering educators to be effective changemakers with real tools that make a lasting impact. The course is self-paced, accessible on any device, and designed for busy people. The Raffi Foundation also offers workshops and webinars for organizations, teams, and communities interested in learning more about Child Honouring.
CCCF members receive a 40% discount on the course as part of our partnership with the Raffi Foundation. To learn more, visit www.raffifoundation.org or reach out at admin@raffifoundation.org.