Supporting Families, Strengthening Futures  

So hard, in fact, that the old African proverb insists that it takes a village to do it. Curiously, our culture places the entirety of the task onto parents alone. There are parenting books, parenting classes, parenting gurus, and parenting influencers. The pressure on parents to raise good citizens is crushing! 

Unsurprisingly, parents are exhausted and depleted. They helplessly find themselves losing their tempers, then beat themselves up for “failing.” They sacrifice self-care. They get sick. They gain weight. In moments of bone-weary fatigue, they toss screens in front of their children. 

Can we really blame them? What if we changed the conversation? What if we shifted some of the pressure on parents over to the shoulders of uncles, grandparents, and siblings? What if aunts were expected to show up for nieces and nephews in a certain way? What if brothers had specific responsibilities around child-rearing? 

I bet we’d have calmer and happier parents. And I bet we’d raise awesome kids who would turn into awesome adults who would run an awesome country. 

But we first have to teach all the other people around us HOW TO FAMILY.”