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Ruth Beaglehole devoted her life to countering what she called “childism,” the misuse of power over children.

Like thousands of L.A. parents before him, Ogilivie had just had his first lesson with parent educator and child rights activist Ruth Beaglehole, who devoted her life to countering “childism” — the misuse of power over children — and taught generations of Angelenos to parent their children with empathy and kindness rather than spanking, threats and manipulation.

Though she never was an author of a bestselling parenting book like Dr. Benjamin Spock or became a social media influencer like Dr. Becky Kennedy, Beaglehole’s many colleagues and mentees say her teachings rippled across L.A. and the world, helping families break longstanding cycles of violence and oppression toward children.

“What Ruth brought was really a paradigm shift in terms of how we thought about parenting,” said Patricia Lakatos, lead trainer for child-parent psychotherapy at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles who studied with Beaglehole.

Beaglehole moved from her childhood home in New Zealand to the United States in the late 1960s, eventually settling in Echo Park, where she became part of a community of social justice activists.