I define it as the active valuing, caring and investing in positive and constructive relationships with God, with myself, and with others that contribute to individual spiritual growth and simultaneously, to the betterment of the community. For me, peacemaking is a proactive process that occurs in a cycle. It can happen only with active desire and participation on our parts. As a parent, you have an active role to play in your child's developing peacemaking skills. Peacemaking is a cooperative activity involving parents, students, teachers, the entire school staff, and the larger community.
Every school is organized with both a formal and an informal curriculum.
This informal curriculum exerts a tremendous influence on how your child views relationships, conflict, moral behavior, and personal responsibility. In the course of my work as principal of the Sunshine School in Hayward, California, I have visited many public and private schools to learn from the best of what other educators are doing. I recommend that before enrolling your child in a school, you search actively for one which is committed to peacemaking as a positive goal. At the Sunshine School, for example, we profess that we are dedicated to character education, academic excellence, and partnership of home, school and community. The board, staff, and parents are self-consciously committed to developing a school whose formal and informal curricula support childrens development as peacemakers.