At a time when children are growing up amid headlines about war, political division, and global instability, many parents are quietly asking a deeper question: What are we teaching the next generation about conflict, fear, and what it means to be human?
In The Way to World Peace: An Idea Whose Time Has Come (Wheatmark; Jan. 20, 2026), Kenneth Paul Callison argues that violence is not something children are born with, it is something they learn from the world around them.
The book challenges a widely accepted assumption: that conflict is inevitable. Instead, it suggests that the beliefs we pass down about competition, fear, and “us vs. them” shape how children grow into adults who either repeat cycles of conflict or break them.
Callison also highlights a reality many families recognize: children are often raised to accept war as normal, while being told peace is unrealistic. That contradiction, he argues, quietly shapes how young people understand the world and their place in it.
For parents, the book opens up a different conversation, one focused not on politics, but on values, emotional development, and the long-term impact of what children are taught to believe about human nature.
Ken Callison is the founder of A Time for Humanity™, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing a collective awakening toward demilitarization and species-level responsibility.
This is not a policy book. It’s a conversation starter for families navigating how to raise thoughtful, emotionally grounded children in a world that often feels unstable.
I had a chance to learn more in this interview.
Children are not born expecting conflict. They learn it. They listen to how adults talk about the world, they watch how problems are handled, and they absorb what is considered “normal.” When fear is part of the environment, whether through language, behavior, or the broader world around them, children begin to accept it as part of life. Over time, those messages shape how they see other people and what they believe is possible.
Why do children often expect conflict rather than peace?
Children expect what they are shown. If they grow up in a world that prepares for conflict, talks about threats, and treats struggle as unavoidable, they begin to believe that is how life works. When they hear that nothing can really change, they stop imagining something better. In that space, conflict feels realistic and peace feels out of reach.
How does emotional security at home contribute to how children view the world?
The home is where a child forms their first understanding of life. When they feel safe, supported, and valued, they develop trust. That trust extends beyond the home and shapes how they see others. A child who feels secure is more likely to approach the world with openness and confidence. A child who feels uncertainty or fear at home often carries that same lens into everything else.
What are some ways that adults can model cooperation and empathy instead of conflict?
Children are always watching us. They learn from how we respond in everyday moments. When we listen instead of react, when we stay calm under pressure, and when we treat others with respect even when we disagree, we are teaching them what cooperation looks like. Empathy is not something we explain once. It is something we demonstrate over and over again in how we live.
How can children learn about healthy competition vs. competition that leads to conflict?
Competition can either build confidence or create division. The difference is in how it is framed. Healthy competition focuses on effort, growth, and doing your best. It respects others and encourages improvement. When competition becomes about winning at all costs or proving someone else is less, it leads to conflict. Children learn the difference when we celebrate progress, not just outcomes, and when we teach them that their value is not tied to defeating someone else.
ABOUT KEN CALLISON: Although Callison is best known as the founder of Allied Beauty Experts, his engagement with psychology spans decades. In the 1980s and 1990s, he conducted extensive research on public attitudes toward nuclear war, culminating in a nationally published survey in the Journal of Defense and Diplomacy. That work informs the book’s core thesis: that collective belief systems—rather than material constraints—shape humanity’s tolerance for violence.
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