Children’s wellbeing is supported by parents, teachers, peers, mentors, family members, friends, and the communities that surround them. It’s nurtured in the home, in the community, in schools and in afterschool programs.

And it can be advanced—or harmed—by public policies.

Amidst talk of “culture wars” and a busy and tense election season, attempts to position schools, communities, and government as opponents of parents and children are alive and well.

In this framing guide you will find:

• an outline of the mindsets about government that help explain the reasons why the parents’ rights movement has gained so much ground in recent years; and
• three strategies for combating this harmful rhetoric and creating more productive understandings of the role that government can and should play in improving children’s lives.