Violence is a learned behavior.  It can be unlearned.

 

How YOU can help turn off the violence

At Home    For Your Kids    At School    At Work    In Your Community

For more ideas, check out our Community Action Guide for ideas on planning a campaign in your community.  [Community:   A group of people living, working, or learning together. ]  The entire guide can be viewed or downloaded for free in Adobe Acrobat format.  You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, (free download from Adobe Web site).
 

Download Acrobat Reader
   

   At home…

  1. Consider how you resolve conflict and react to stress.  Do you ever use words that shame, humiliate, intimidate?  Do you hold in your anger and take it out later on others?  Managing anger is a discipline that takes practice.

    • Take time to cool down.

    • Listen respectfully.  Speak respectfully.

    • Focus on the problem, not the person.

    • Be open to compromise.

  2. Turn off violent entertainment and do something fun, safe, & healthy.
     
  3. Or, if you’ve already chosen to turn off violent entertainment, turn it back on and see what America’s children are being exposed to.
  4. Write at least one letter to a television sponsor, video game company or music company.  Turn Off the Violence has postcard kits to help get you started.
  5. Send an e-mail to a friend telling them about Turn Off the Violence and inviting them to participate.
  6. Join the Turn Off the Violence coalition for more ideas.

  For your kids…

  1. Teach your kids to love reading.  (Language skills help them express anger without violence.)
  2. Demonstrate respect.
  3. Demonstrate nonviolent conflict resolution.
  4. Talk about your values.
  5. Listen.
  6. Set boundaries.  There's a popular myth that "You just can't discipline kids anymore or you'll be arrested."  It's false.  There are a lot of positive ways to discipline kids without violence.  

 

  At school…

  1. Ask your school district, principal, or your child's teacher to include creative conflict resolution concepts into their lesson plans. Turn Off the Violence has an Educator’s Guide with lesson plans for grades pre-K through 12.
    • In history class, study peacemakers.
    • In language arts, read about peacemakers.  Write about what would change if there were no violence.
    • In phy ed, learn about sportsmanship.
    • In music sing about peace, or study the relationship between music and emotions.  Does some music make you feel uptight and aggressive?  Does some make you feel calm?

                There’s much more in our
                     Turn Off the Violence Educator's Guide!

  2. Implement a bullying prevention campaign from the Turn Off the Violence materials.
  3. Learn about nonviolent conflict resolution.

   At Work…

  1. Host a speaker about some issue of violence.  Turn Off the Violence has speakers on keeping your kids safe, domestic violence, workplace violence, bullying, media violence, etc.

  2. Teach company leaders how to lead by inspiration rather than intimidation.

  3. Sponsor a Turn Off the Violence event for employees and their families, or the community.

  4. Become a corporate member of the Turn Off the Violence coalition.  Turn Off the Violence has reproducible paycheck stuffers and brochures on which you can print your company name as a supporter. Use our Community Action Guide for more ideas.

  5. Lead by inspiration rather than intimidation.

  6. Promote the campaign to your family, friends, co-workers, employees, mailing lists, and visitors to your office. 

  7. If you can, contribute. Contributions of services, equipment, supplies, or dollars are important to making Turn Off the Violence grow. In-kind contributions have been as important to the success of Turn Off the Violence as financial contributions. 

  In your community...

  1. Get involved. If there's already a Turn Off the Violence coalition in your community, attend planning meetings and get involved. Our Community Action Guide can help get you started and it includes plenty of advice from other people across the country who've planned their own campaigns in their schools, businesses, faith communities, or towns. 

  2. Organize a Turn Off the Violence event. Positive, enjoyable alternatives to violent entertainment help people to look beyond the media screen for entertainment and life experiences. Such activities may also stimulate involvement in your own organization through participation or volunteerism. 

  3. Arrange to have information about the Turn Off the Violence campaign included in your school, business, or faith community newsletter. Use the article below or write an article about your involvement. 

SAMPLE NEWSLETTER ANNOUNCEMENT 
Imagine a day without any violence.  No fear for yourself or your family.  Even those of us who haven't been touched directly by violence experience mistrust of strangers and fear for our children.  [Organization] has joined the Turn Off the Violence Coalition in an effort to make the world a safer place.  We can't change the world, but we can each change our small corner of it.  October 10 is "Turn Off the Violence Day."  Please join us in the campaign.  On that day, turn off violent entertainment; practice healthy ways of managing anger; and resolve to treat family, friends, and co-workers with respect.   We can do it for one day.  Then maybe we can do it the next day and the next.  For more information visit www.turnofftheviolence.org.
 

Turn Off the Violence.
Copyright 2000 - 2007. All rights reserved.
Revised: September 06, 2007