What Is It That Keeps Us From Talking About Kids?

Each election season, I see the same articles, the same tweets, and the same pleas from advocates to candidates running for public office: we need you to talk about kids. We raise versions of the same questions—where is your children’s platform? Where do you stand on issues related to kids? We hound the debate moderator to include a question about children. Op-eds are published detailing all the reasons why candidates should focus on and talk about kids. Fires are lit under our feet, but within a matter of months, it seems the embers are barely warm, just waiting to be re-stoked until the next election cycle. What is it about our society that keeps us from centering young people in policy conversations? What will it take for sustained change—a culture shift in the way we think and talk about, and act on behalf of kids?

We all want children to grow up healthy and to thrive. We know that children can’t vote, lobby or contribute financially, but there are adults in their lives who can and do. And yet, during in the past year, the number of times children’s issues have been the focus of conversation can be counted on one hand, often in fragmented ways. During the Democratic primaries, now-presidential candidate Joe Biden and Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren outlined plans for investing in early childhood education and universal childcare, and current Vice Presidential candidate, Senator Kamala Harris was alone in outlining a comprehensive children’s agenda that framed policies through the lens of their impact on children and young people. Only a single question—about child poverty—was asked during the primary debates.

Today, the Democratic candidate team of Vice President Biden and Senator Harris have policy plans for early childhood education, climate change, post-secondary school, and childcare in their campaign platform; President Trump has never published policy plans related to children on his campaign website. Neither candidate has a comprehensive plan for the well-being of kids. There was one (perhaps the most poignant of the evening) question asked from eighth-grader Brecklyn during the vice presidential debate that Vice President Pence and Senator Harris responded to directly. Other than the discussion about children separated from their families at the border in the second presidential debate, neither presidential candidate was asked specifically about his policies or spoke to any of his policy plans through the lens of their impact on children.

As we continue to read reports that make clear that our children and youth are not doing well, and then ask why they continue to be an afterthought on our political stage, it is up to us to become educated on the issues. Catherine Rampell notes in her recent Washington Post op-ed, “Voters have choices, and we can make different ones. We could, for instance, elect a president who favors a different set of priorities.” Organizations, like First Focus on Children and the First Focus Campaign for Children, publish report cards on our elected officials, noting where they stand and how they’ve voted issues related to kids.

We hope that our elected officials will make policy decisions that are in the best interests of our young people. What we haven’t done—and what we now need to do—is take the next step to holding our elected leaders accountable for their whether or not they do this:

First, it is critical that whomever is in the White House commits to the development and implementation of a national plan for children. The plan must have clear, measurable, and executable goals and center kids in all policy decisions. To ensure its successful execution, a structure must be created to recommend, publicly monitor, and report progress on the plan’s outlined strategy and goals; to convene interagency committees focusing on key objectives such as reducing child poverty; and to ensure and oversee appropriate budget allocations. Raising the priority of children and young people can only be achieved by putting them front and center on the national stage. Putting forth a children’s plan will help make this possible.

Second, as noted by Kids Impact Initiative, we should create child impact assessments to “help policymakers and advocates keep children’s best interests at the center of public policy decision-making and result in better-informed policies.” By centering kids and raising awareness to the potential impact of a policy or program on a child’s overall health and welfare, it is hoped there will be a greater understanding of how children cannot simply be an afterthought to budget allocations, policy implementation, and program development. This must hold true for our elected officials at the highest offices, as well as those in our local communities.

Third, it is important to recognize how young people themselves are communicating, expressing their views, and holding one another accountable. We also need to listen to what they are saying. Technology and social media in recent elections, and in our current one specifically, has heightened the intersection of their awareness, information and influence, and a New York Times article credits TikTok as one of the platforms that is shaping politics. Notably, it allows for rapidfire transmission of information between users—and potentially voters—who are speaking out for what they believe and the change they wish to see. These technologies can help identify the issues that are most important to young people, and we must pay attention as they use various social media platforms to call out inconsistencies in the policies, promises, and actions they see from our leaders.

Finally, it is my belief that many policy areas—education, our COVID response, eradication of child poverty—would look very different if we felt a collective responsibility towards each other and possessed a willingness to act in service all children and young people, not just our own. As we move toward Election Day and beyond, I hope we will accept this challenge and hold ourselves and our leaders accountable to make decisions through the lens of what is best for kids, and for our country.

As a nation, our collective goal is to ensure that all children grow up to be healthy, productive, successful members of society. By November 3, I hope that votes will be cast with the best interest of children in mind. Ultimately, our democracy creates the platform for us to change the way we think and talk about kids, to act in protection of all children, and to hold our elected leaders accountable for their commitment to young people.