Culture of Health [RWJF.org]

We talk a big game, as a nation, about how much we value our kids. After all, “the children are our future,” right?

But here’s the thing: our investments and policies don’t yet line up with this value. Spending on children makes up just 10 percent of the federal budget, and that share is likely to fall. The outcomes are clear: Child well-being in the United States ranks 26 on a list of 29 industrialized nations in a UNICEF report. We must do better!

So here’s our recommendation of the absolute best thing we can do to give kids a healthy start in 2016: support parents and families.

Looking back on our years of experience working with children and families, as a social worker and educator and as a public health physician, we’ve learned that kids thrive when their caregivers thrive. And they can fall behind when their parents are stretched thin.

Recently, we saw this idea echoed back to us in a new documentary, “The Raising of America.” The five-part series looks at the social and economic pressures that put children and families at risk.

“It’s too much,” says one working mother in the film, as she stands in her kitchen holding her baby. “I can’t do it.”