Child development leading to the pursuit of virtues and the avoidance of vices

Optimizing the social, emotional, moral and cognitive development of children will support prosocial behavior and peaceful societies. To accomplish these goals, efforts need to start from birth with authoritative parenting to achieve secure attuned attachment between caregiver and child.  Such parenting should eliminate the toxic stress associated with the authoritarian approach and the lack of direction seen with permissive or uninvolved parenting. Early literacy is the key to building character using the vehicles of modeled behaviors, reading stories with a moral and that teach a lesson and Human Relations Programs for Children.  Benevolent mindfulness characterized by emotional empathy, compassion and helping behaviors will result from proper parenting and successful character education.  The resultant ability to think in a complex fashion where virtues are pursued and vices avoided should facilitate resistance to false narratives and non-violent conflict resolution. Avoiding Adverse Child Experiences has been shown to minimize depression, violence perpetration and other problem behaviors and disorders.  When there are educational and professional resources in play to support the development of children in communities, a responsible, caring citizenry can be anticipated.         

Dr, Katzman served his pediatric residency at the University of Chicago and Children’s Hospital of Michigan.  After spending two years in the Navy, he entered a fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Temple University Hospital.  He is board certified in Pediatrics and Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine. He is also  certified by the  American College of Physician Executives as a Physician  Executive. Over the years, he has published a number of papers in both Neonatology and  Pediatrics,  An initial interest in Human Relations Programs for Children in the 1980s evolved into an effort to understand the ways children are taught to hate and how such indoctrinations can be prevented.  The papers that he has published on this subject include:

1. A Bioethical Analysis of a Form of Psychologic Abuse: Teaching Hatred to Children. Clinical Pediatrics.2005;44:143-150
2. Neurological and Psychological Mechanisms Explaining How Hatred is Programmed Into the Minds of Children. The Open Pediatric Medicine Journal. 2009;3:58-60      
3. Spartan and Sambian Societies: Psychosocial Development Stifling Emotional Empathy and Supporting Violent Behaviors. The Open Pediatric Medical Journal. 2014;8:1-8      
4. Genocide: Plotting a Course to Never Again. Neuropsychiatry(London)2016;6(4):190-192      
5. Convention on the Rights of the Child: academic exercise or prescription for a better life. Advances in Pediatric Research.5:10 doi 10.24106/apr.2018.5.10

       6. Understanding the Paths to Malevolence and and Benevolence: A Case Study wi10                   

    7. The Global Child Development Corps. Advances iPediatricResearch.6:30  

      doi:   10.35248/2385-4529. 19.6.30                                                                        

      8. Child Development Leading to the Pursuit of Virtues and the Avoidance of Vices. Journal of Advances in Medicine and Medical Research.2020;32(10) 22-29

      9. The Psychodynamics of Aggression and Genocide and Their Prevention. In: Advances in  Psychology Research, Editor Alexandra M. Columbus. Chapter4, Nova Science Publishers Inc. Vol14, 2022. P. 86-

    10. Two “Aha Moments,” The Scientific Method and Repair of the World. Academia Letters, April 2022, Article 5033

    11. The International Century of the Child: Is it a Dream? Annals of Pediatrics and Child Health.