Parents and teachers can help children learn qualities (such as empathy, caring, kindness, and generosity) that contribute to a more peaceful environment. Children can be helped to learn the values and techniques of resolving conflicts without injuring others. We should be concerned about teaching peacemaking in order to prevent crime, drug addiction, and mental illness. Many factors encourage the development of a peaceful and caring person, including having one's basic human needs met, having a feeling of self-worth and self-respect, and understanding the need for cooperation and sharing of power and materials. Children learn to care about others and to curb their selfish impulses by modeling their behavior on that of parents, teachers, and others. While Piaget stated that children are too egocentric to empathize with another person and to act altruistically before the 5 to 7 year old stage, recent research has found that even toddlers are sometimes altruisic. Parents who convey with intensity that a child must not hurt others, explain why, and indicate the consequences of hurtful behavior have children who, from a very early age, give help to others who are distressed. There are many other ways that parents can encourage children to be peacemakers. By working for peace in a conscious way, each of us can contribute to the quality of life in our society. (CB)