Why and How US Communities Need to Raise Children

If I could review Hillary's text's main message in one sentence it would be: children, the future of us all, need to be raised within an empowering, supportive, independence encouraging society. Daughter, sister, wife, and mother, Senator Clinton has a quarter of a century history and knowledge of being child-centered to condense into 318 pages. This child-centered public servant, legal advocate and expert is well studied and practiced enough to proffer that what it takes for children to succeed is a successful community, not just a family. Senator Clinton claims that we must acknowledge that the US society has vast changes to make in order to empower caring and responsible children into adults. A variety of social developments, though they have improved our standards of living in many ways have brought role changing and economic pressures to bear upon families. As a result, children are suffering emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, and physically. Senator Clinton is very clear to say that the old notion of the "good old days" and "family values" are a false nostalgia that do not offer solutions to today's children, families, communities, and US society. Senator Clinton offers a wide variety of solutions beginning with making a hearty study of the new research about children. I couldn't agree with her more. After living since 1998 in Central Virginia where ignorance flourishes through a Christian hostility towards scientific discovery and research, I'm glad I was not and my own children were not raised here. Instead of what Senator Clinton suggests children need to flourish in society, this is a location where hatred, factions, exclusivity, and religious supremacism dominate children. Even the physical space for children is hardly existent at the institutional, social, or personal levels. When I was a child in the 1960's living in the cosmopolitan outskirts of Washington, DC, we had a huge community that extended well beyond our town, even into the nation Capitol. Children had incredible places to visit for free: the Smithsonian Museum, the National Zoo, the Washington Monument, the US Capitol Building, all sorts of art shops, .25 cent child-centered movie theaters, and all-welcoming community-active churches. There was a TV show hosted by Art Linkletter called, "Children Say the Darndest Things." As I listened to children younger than me on that show, I learned that children were quite full of wisdom. Senator Clinton suggests that we need to listen to children in order to know what they know and what they need. Finally, Senator Clinton suggests (among many other things) that adults should look to child-centered cities in the US where children are flourishing (like in Seattle); look to other countries to learn how they are changing as technology, the economy, and families have; read the wealth of knowledge that is readily available in cyberspace/on the internet. In order for children to grow more healthily, adults must grow beyond the old stereotypes of a simplistic nuclear family and a public status quo. The word is "grow," to the adults, "and cultivate healthier fruit." Doing so, says Senator Clinton requires personal, social, and institutional changes.Read full review