Inspiration - Teaching Our Children to Choose Respect in a World That Sometimes Hurts
Help Your Child Handle Hard Things
Some moments shake a nation.
The recent tragedy at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, did exactly that.
In a place known for sunlight, surf, families, and freedom, violence ripped through what should have been an ordinary afternoon.
But after heartbreak, we must answer: How do we respond?
Tragedy can destroy, but it can also inspire the change needed.
But it can also inspire needed change.
We saw this after Port Arthur — when Australia said “enough,” changed gun laws, and shifted the culture around firearms forever. That moment of national unity reminds us that societies can transform after tragedy.
That decision saved lives. It still does.
Because guns are a privilege, not a right. A tool to be controlled, not an identity to protect.
Moments like this remind us:
When adults make courageous decisions, children inherit a safer world.
Now it’s our responsibility as parents to decide what values and safety our children inherit.
It’s painful, confronting, and deeply unfair that innocent lives are ever lost.
And as a parent, it’s impossible not to imagine your own child in those moments of chaos.
You hold them closer. You feel your breath catch.
You think, “How do I protect them from a world capable of this?”
But here’s the hard truth wrapped in compassion:
We cannot control every tragedy.
But we can shape the hearts and minds of the children who will someday be adults in that world.
That is power.
Quiet, steady, generational power.
Harm begins in homes.
Healing begins in homes.
The way a child is taught to treat someone different from them —
their skin, their language, their food, their faith, their clothing, their customs —
can lead them toward compassion…
or toward cruelty.
Children don’t learn hatred by accident.
They are taught it, permitted it, or surrounded by it.
Likewise, children don’t learn respect by accident either.
They learn it because someone modelled it, lived it, insisted on it, and didn’t laugh it off when cruelty showed up disguised as “kids being kids.”
The tragedy at Bondi reminds us:
What we tolerate in childhood… becomes what we legislate, normalise, or excuse in adulthood.
This is not small work, but it is crucial.
This is the heart of shaping a safer nation.
⭐ Here are five ways parents, child care educators and teachers can teach children that differences are something to explore — not fear, mock, or attack:
1. Teach curiosity over fear.
Say:
“People believe different things and live different ways — isn’t it interesting?”
Curiosity opens minds; fear closes them.2. Stop cruelty early.
If your child mocks an accent, a food, a belief, a disability, a cultural practice — intervene immediately.
Say:
“We don’t speak about people that way. Let’s learn about this instead.”
Bullying that goes uncorrected becomes prejudice that goes unchecked.3. Model respectful disagreement.
Say:
“I don’t agree with them, but I respect their right to their beliefs.”
Children learn that differences don’t have to be threats.4. Teach the difference between acceptance and harm.
Say:
“We accept differences. What we never accept is hurting others.”
Acceptance is not approving everything — it’s honouring human dignity.5. Educate globally, parent locally.
Expose your child to culture, food, stories, celebrations, leaders, and heroes from around the world.
Global awareness shrinks ignorance — and ignorance is the seedbed of hate.
Research on prejudice development shows:
Children begin forming biases between the ages of 3 and 7.
Exposure to diversity reduces anxiety and aggression.
Seeing respectful disagreement builds emotional regulation.
Parents’ attitudes — even unspoken ones — predict children’s values more than peers, school, or media.
Children learn what “normal” looks like from the atmosphere we create.
Tragedy shapes us.
But it can also shape us.
Just as Australia once transformed its gun laws to protect future generations, so too can we transform our homes. We can make them places where respect isn’t optional, acceptance isn’t negotiable, and kindness isn’t conditional.
Our children are watching how we respond to a hurting world.
Let’s be proactive—show our children, through our words and actions, how to build a world rooted in respect, compassion, and kindness.
Tonight, actively engage your child: Ask them, “What is something different about someone else that you find interesting?” Discuss it, and together, take one small step to learn more about that difference.
Raising a respectful, globally aware, kind child is how we—and our children—build a safer world, today and tomorrow.
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About Trish Corbett
Passionate about helping new parents by sharing what she wishes she had known as a young parent so they can raise their children with clarity, confidence and values.
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