Clearly that’s not true, but so many children today grow up thinking it is.

When they see the news, full of shootings, stabbings and cars running down pedestrians, that’s all they know.

When they see the idolized action films like Die Hard and Terminator, they dream of growing up to be just like their violent heroes.

These things should all exist. The news and entertainment are important and add value to our lives, but these can’t be the only way children learn to cope with their problems.

Some people never learned that violence isn’t the only option in settling disputes. Some parents never taught their children that, mainly because it isn’t the first thing as a parent you’d think needs to be explained.

Some scientists say video games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto form innocent children into violent adults. Playing these violent games might make certain actions seem more acceptable, but they’re certainly not making children into monsters like many suspect.

There’s no certain age where viewing these movies and playing these games becomes acceptable, so it’s on a parent to know when their child’s brain is developed enough to know right from wrong.

In this day and age, parents have to actually sit down and teach their children how to deal with confrontation and disputes. In the past, these conversations may not have been necessary, but the world is changing and so must our parenting techniques.

Violence seems to be the go-to now, but it doesn’t have to be. I know how cliche the concept of education as a solution to all of our problems sounds, but it really is in this case. If we want to stop random shootings on the streets of our neighborhoods, we have to learn to teach our children right from wrong young, and specifically teach them the right and wrong ways to settle disputes.

Just spending time with your child isn’t enough. Many parents avoid talking about the tough things until their child starts to question it, but children aren’t turning to their parents for help when figuring out how to settle disputes at school. Instead they’re resulting to what they know: television and video games.

We need to start talking to our children, siblings, and nieces and nephews about hard subjects like violence before they ask, because what if they don’t?