About this Film Project

"It starts with the Children" is a participatory film project by the Austrian peace researcher Franz Jedlicka about the different forms of child-rearing in different countries around the world, and you are invited to submit a short video for it.

For this video, you should ask a mother or father – or both together – five questions and film their answers. You can also film only the answers and cut out your questions. You can do that in the language of your country or your region, but only if this language can be automatically translated into English by Youtube.

You can also interview someone with an educational background or a psychologist. This interview can then be longer.

Here are the five questions:

Question one: What do you think is important for good child-rearing? 

Question two: What should you do if children misbehave or constantly disturb you or other persons?

Question three: What do you think about corporal punishment?

Question four: Did you know that corporal punishment is being outlawed in more and more countries?

Question five: Do you think the world can become peaceful if violence against children is already permitted?

Your video contribution should be no longer than five minutes in total. It can also be shorter and does not have to contain answers to all five questions. Please ask the person you are interviewing beforehand if they agree to have the interview shown in a documentary on YouTube.

Upload your video to YouTube, include the country in the title, and include the hashtag #itstartswiththechildren. An example for the title of your youtube video would be: Raising children in Nigeria, #itstartswiththechildren. This is how we will find your video. But you also should send an Email to us (see the contact information below).

It is also important that you publish the video under a Creative Commons license, not the standard YouTube license, as this is the only way we can use it.

If we use your video in our documentary, you will receive a fee of €50 and we will show your name as a contributor in the end credits. But the fee shouldn't be your main motivation. Your motivation should be that your video enables an international comparison of parenting methods and that parents around the world can discuss whether they can have an impact on the peacefulness of a country. 

Any additional questions? You can post them as a comment below this text (comments are moderated).