Families unite – we have strength in numbers

© 2025 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved

Families unite! We need to speak up to protect our children! We have strength in numbers!

On April 5^th, find a “Hand’s Off” rally near you, and lend your voice to express the will of the people. Tell those in power that we aren’t going to let extremists, billionaires, and corruption take away our democratic rights and economic livelihoods. Or put our children at risk by destroying our international relationships and security – starting devastating, foolish trade wars, and threatening military aggression against our closest allies and sovereign nations.

Parents are good at this, because we have clarity.

Becoming a parent alters the human brain. We become acutely aware of the basic survival needs of our children. And for as long as we have been a species, the formula for helping our children survive and thrive has been the same.

• We are stronger together. We need to have each other’s backs.

• We need to listen to each other’s pain, and find cooperative solutions.

• We need to build friendships and alliances. Not destroy them.

• We need intelligent plans to improve our economic future – plans that are well thought out, and based on accurate information.

• We need to defend rule of law, and each individual’s right to due process. If we don’t push back against illegal power-grabs and rights violations, we are all at risk.

And we know that families can’t succeed on their own. Throughout the long evolutionary history of humanity, parents have always needed subsidies and support to ensure that their children survive and thrive.

Even today – in a new poll conducted for Common Sense Media (March 2025) – a majority of U.S. parents (of all political affiliations) agreed that “families need more economic assistance from the government to get by in the early years of a child’s life or when their children and teens are young adults.”

Yet in this same poll, most parents said they didn’t feel that their voices matter in decisions made by the government. Again, this was a result that applied across all political affiliations!

And that must change now. Right now. Because our children’s rights, safety, and future depend on it.

So let’s do what our ancestors have always done, and band together. Reach out to each other. Stand up for each other and our families, and send the message loud and clear. Let April 5^th – and every other day – put the pressure on elected officials to do their jobs, and enforce democracy and rule of law.

Reference – poll

Lake, C., Snell, A., Gormley, C., Vinyard, I., Gillett, M., Anderson, K. S., O’Neil, E., Alles, D., Collins Coleman, E., & Robb, M. (2025). The state of kids and families in America, 2025. Common Sense Media.

image credit: PeopleImages.com – Yuri A / shutterstock