Often, we come home tired, irritated, and with no emotional energy left for anything else. Because they don't learn from words. We cannot teach respect to a child who grows up seeing contempt. A child who witnesses humiliation learns that power is exercised by hurting. Recently, something happened that made me reflect even more. One of my daughters saw a girl kicking a cat while her mother allowed it. But we can decide what models we leave in front of our children's eyes. We cannot teach empathy to a child who witnesses violence. I explained to my daughter that, sadly, not everyone is raised the same way. Children learn by observing, much more than they learn by listening. A child who grows up hearing screams learns to scream. And they will replicate it. The author is a teacher and writer. Because when a child learns to hurt an animal without empathy, they are learning more than just that. No one disputes that. There are long days, exhausting jobs, financial worries, accumulated stress. But our children should not be the place where that weight falls. But respect, empathy, compassion, and moral awareness are born in the family. We, teachers, accompany that process, but we cannot replace it. And I was left thinking about something we often prefer not to question: at what point did we normalize adults unloading their frustrations onto children? Being a parent is difficult. We cannot teach limits to a child who only knows screaming. Education starts long before the first day of school. The animal did nothing to her. It starts in the way we speak, in how we treat others, in how we control our emotions, and yes, even in how we treat animals. Perhaps we cannot build a perfect society. A few days ago, I heard my neighbor yelling at her children so forcefully that even I, from my room, ended up startled. Adult life weighs heavy. A child who sees violence learns that violence is a valid form of relationship. They are learning something much deeper: how to relate to the most vulnerable beings. And then the big question returns that we as a society must ask ourselves: how do we want education to transform the world if we are not willing to educate first at home? There is a phrase that bothers some, but which I still believe deeply: values are taught at home. The mother's reaction was to get annoyed and tell her not to get involved. School teaches math, science, history, and language. It was a vent. They will learn from what they see every day. I also told her that understanding that does not mean accepting harm as normal. Later, we talked at home. It was not an argument. My daughter, impulsively, said to the woman: — Do you think it's right to educate your daughter like that?
