arise between my daughter and other children, NVC helps me in acting in a way that can bring connection with the children, instead of putting my energy in deciding who's right or wrong, punishment, rewards, minimize, etc. When connection arises, often the solution will come from the children involved."
“It helps me in remembering that when there is a conflict with my child, the powerful thing I can do is to try to offer empathy and my presence to her to establish connection between us. After that I can choose to express what is important for me in that situation and then explore together where we can go from there. In doing this, I also know I'm showing to my daughter a way of acting that I think can help to bring peace to the world.”
Boy aged 15, student in a school inspired by NVC, Stockholm, Sweden
“This school is different from others because of the atmosphere here. In the classroom for example, you can say something without being afraid that someone will make fun of you because you sound stupid, and that´s not what I´m used to. I was very quiet in my last class and I still am, but that´s just because I learned to be quiet. No-one wants people to call you names and stuff like that just because you open your mouth. Here they encourage you to talk, which is great. The teachers here seem very dedicated to their work compared to my last school, and that makes it funnier and easier to learn.
“I am pretty sure that bullying doesn´t exist in this school, not anything that I know of anyway. Perhaps because of the atmosphere here, if someone actually did it, other students would stop it. There´s a feeling of safety here. I don´t know if they do anything here to prevent bullying but I don´t feel that that´s needed. [Bullying] just doesn´t exist here.”
Marianne Göthlin: email@example.com