This paper addresses the pedagogical challenges when dealing with the education of violence for young children. Drawing upon personal teaching experience and wider critical engagements, it makes the case for a broader understanding of critical interventions that recognizes the political importance of the arts and humanities. Key here is to account for multiple ways violence can be addressed, while taking seriously the agency of children (both affirmatively and in terms of promoting self-reflection) in our educational practices. If children are active agents for change in countering violence, not simply through a responsive critique, but through a more affirmative appreciation of the art of politics, then there is a need to rethink what principles are required to guide their futures.