Hilary Clinton’s book “It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us,” was published in 1995. In this book, Clinton introduced the powerful idea into mainstream conversation that parents were not solely responsible for raising their children. She argued that the upbringing of children was the duty of everyone around them: grandparents, teachers, neighbors, and politicians.
Everyone has an equally important role in raising children, she said. Kids belong to the government, schools, and doctors. All those entities are essentially co-parents and part of the child-raising process.
Hilary especially advocated for greater governmental involvement in child-rearing. She wanted universal preschools for all children, a government-enforced standard for child welfare, government-funded healthcare programs, and federal programs that would provide children with food and other necessities.
When Kamala Harris was Vice President of the United States, she was interviewed on Fox News, and during one of those interviews, she shed light on this viewpoint, saying, “When you see our kids…and I truly believe that they are our children, they are the children of our country, of our communities.”[1]
Now, set aside the fact that Kamala has difficulty forming clear sentences, and focus on what she is trying to say here. She argues that children belong to everyone. Parents are only a small part of a child’s formation, and they do not have complete authority over their children because the children belong to everyone. Everyone has an equal stake in a child’s upbringing.
Parents are encouraged to rely on others to care for and raise their children. They are essentially told to co-parent with strangers.
The message no longer shocks us because we’ve heard it so many times, but it should shock us. There are a whole slew of videos of teachers across the country who, over the last decade or so, have openly claimed that their students are their own children. Consequently, they feel entitled to hide information about those students from their parents when they believe it’s in the students’ best interests. After all, the children they’re teaching are theirs. They can do what they please. They are accountable to no-one and have determined to raise those children however they see fit while they have them.
“It takes a village to raise a child” sends the message that you and your spouse can’t raise your child, and that the child is not your own. You and many other people must raise them. This results in others being equally responsible for a child, and in that case, there’s no need for parents to always be consulted about things. Decisions, in other words, can and must be made without your consent because, after all, the child is not just yours. They are everyone’s.
Socialism has long held this view that children belong to the state. There is only one ultimate authority in socialism, and that is the government. The state has the right to decide what happens to your child, what they are taught, what vaccines they receive, and what they end up believing and doing with their lives.
Vladimir Lenin once said, “Give me four years to teach the children, and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.” This quote is powerful because it is true— it takes very little time to profoundly influence a child for the rest of their life. The reality is that anyone around your child who is allowed to make decisions for them is impacting them, whether that be spiritually, physically, or mentally. That’s why socialist governments prioritize removing children from their homes and from their parents entirely, for as many hours a day as possible. This provides them maximum influence and control over those children and it greatly affects how those children turn out as adults.
Parents, you need to raise your children, not the state, and not other people. No one can or should replace you. You and your spouse must work to shape them. You both must guide and correct them. That is your God given responsibility, and yours alone. Do not blindly hand that incredible right and privilege over to others. Children are so impressionable and malleable, and this time is very precious. You will never get it back. You will never have this opportunity again.
Protect your child’s heart and mind, and cherish these formative years. Embrace this duty as a holy and God-given task.
And remember, it does not take a village to raise your child. It takes you.
[1] https://x.com/DeAngelisCorey/status/1815150627854422021?s=20
