As children raced through the halls of the Trump Kennedy Center waving miniature American flags and wearing Minuteman hats, Dr. Ben Carson stood at the center of what he hopes will become a new movement in children&#8217;s education.
The former Housing and Urban Development secretary, 2016 presidential candidate, and renowned neurosurgeon premiered “Star Spangled Adventures: The Movie” on Sunday as part of the <a href="https://americancornerstone.org/">American Cornerstone Institute&#8217;s</a> Little Patriots initiative, an effort designed to teach American history to children through books, films, and educational resources ahead of the nation&#8217;s 250th anniversary.
For Carson, the animated feature is about far more than entertainment. &#8220;In order for people to really develop patriotism, they need to know their history,&#8221; Carson said in an interview with The Daily Wire before the screening. &#8220;I was noticing that fewer and fewer people seem to know their history.&#8221;
The concern is one that animated nearly every aspect of the event. Throughout the afternoon, families packed the venue for patriotic activities before gathering for a screening of the film, which follows Liberty the Eagle through key moments in American history.
Carson argued that too many young Americans are being taught a distorted understanding of the country&#8217;s past. &#8220;Probably the biggest thing that&#8217;s missing is that we have a country with an honorable history,&#8221; Carson said. &#8220;There are those who have taken some of the bad things that have happened and tried to make that characterizing.&#8221;
While acknowledging that America has experienced failures throughout its history, Carson said modern education often focuses exclusively on those failures while ignoring the nation&#8217;s achievements.
The result, he warned, is a generation increasingly vulnerable to ideological movements hostile to America&#8217;s founding principles. &#8220;We look around and we see socialism and communism becoming acceptable,&#8221; Carson said. &#8220;Those things are not compatible with our Constitution.&#8221;
That concern helps explain why Carson chose animation as the medium for his latest project. The challenge, he said, was finding a way to communicate history to children without sacrificing historical accuracy. &#8220;We throw some humor in there, but it&#8217;s heavily weighted with facts,&#8221; Carson said. &#8220;We did it that way so that not only would the little kids enjoy it, but the parents, the grandparents, the teachers would learn also.&#8221;
The film boasts an unusually star-studded cast for an independent patriotic project. Kevin Sorbo voices George Washington, Gary Sinise portrays Robert E. Lee, Pat Boone appears as Abraham Lincoln, and actor John Schneider lends his voice to Revolutionary War militia commander Captain John Parker.
For Schneider, best known for his role on &#8220;The Dukes of Hazzard,&#8221; joining the project required little persuasion. &#8220;I love this country. I was raised to love this country and honor this country,&#8221; Schneider told The Daily Wire on the red carpet.
What motivated him, he said, was seeing what he described as a growing effort to rewrite American history. &#8220;After I turned 50 or so, I started seeing this revisionist history coming in and saying that our country was bad,&#8221; Schneider said. &#8220;It really aggravated me.&#8221;
Standing just steps away from children wearing colonial-era hats and red, white, and blue outfits, Schneider said the event represented something increasingly rare in modern American culture: an unapologetic celebration of the nation itself. &#8220;It&#8217;s so great to be part of something that is defending our history,&#8221; he said.
Among those attending the premiere was longtime Carson mentee and ally Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, who described the event as representative of the &#8220;heartbeat of America.&#8221;
&#8220;Patriots — even young patriots, little children — families coming together, celebrating our great country together, celebrating our faith in God together,&#8221; Turner added.
The premiere also served as a launch point for Carson&#8217;s broader educational ambitions. Alongside the film, Carson released a new book, “Built on Faith,” a children’s book discussing America&#8217;s founders and the influence of religious belief in their lives.
According to Carson, “Star Spangled Adventures” is only the beginning. &#8220;There are a lot of creative ventures in the works,&#8221; he said. As America approaches its semiquincentennial celebration in 2026, Carson hopes those projects will help create a generation that understands not only the nation&#8217;s history but its responsibilities.
When asked what he hopes families discuss on the drive home after watching the film, Carson&#8217;s answer was simple. &#8220;How can we see more of this?&#8221; he said. &#8220;How can we get more involved?&#8221;
For Dr. Ben Carson, that conversation may ultimately be the point of all his efforts going forward; the movie itself is only one chapter in a much larger effort to convince America&#8217;s youngest citizens that their country&#8217;s story is worth knowing — and worth defending.

Ben Carson

Ben Carson Wants To Teach America’s Children To Love Their Country Again

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An 11-year-old girl and her 12-year-old brother operating a lemonade stand in Boston got a <a href="https://whdh.com/news/police-searching-for-suspects-accused-of-robbing-childrens-lemonade-stand-in-south-boston/">brutal lesson</a> in urban lawlessness Wednesday afternoon when a pair of juvenile suspects robbed them at gunpoint.
It was roughly 4:44 p.m. when the suspects first appeared, <a href="https://police.boston.gov/2026/06/11/bpd-seeking-public-assistance-following-armed-robbery-of-childrens-lemonade-stand-in-south-boston/">casing the stand</a> with multiple walk-bys before finally approaching the children and asking whether they accepted Apple Pay. Before the kids could even answer, one suspect snatched the cash box right out from under them. The other made sure there was no resistance — lifting his shirt to flash a black firearm tucked into his waistband. The two then fled on foot. The cash box was later found nearby, empty. The take: approximately $50.
The children&#8217;s father, Dave Byrne, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/south-boston-kids-lemonade-stand-robbed-gunpoint">described</a> what happened: “One of them said, ‘we don’t have any money, but we’re going to see if my mother will Venmo me the money so I can pay for it.’ Next thing you know, they came back and said, ‘we’re just going to take this,’ and they took my son’s and daughter’s – their money, bank that they had all their cash in. And as they did that they flashed a gun that they had in their waistband.”<iframe style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; max-width: 100%; width: 100%; margin: 20px auto 5px; border: 0;" src="https://player.mux.com/6FRQ2nb7GBeXKH4wIW7qO00NmKjhcQxop?metadata-video-content-type=embed_video&amp;metadata-video-id=ab028f5a-6564-4019-bf11-ee034298874c&amp;metadata-video-stream-type=on-demand&amp;metadata-video-title=2026-6-12%20Children%E2%80%99s%20lemonade%20stand%20robbed%20at%20gunpoint&amp;poster=https%3A%2F%2Fdailywireplus-v2.imgix.net%2Fimages%2Fembedded-videos%2F01a00be1-68a7-4500-95f9-8c7e8af799b1.jpg&amp;autoplay=false&amp;accent-color=%23DB3D3B&amp;primary-color=%23ffffff&amp;secondary-color=%23000000" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
“They called me, I&#8217;m at work, they&#8217;re hysterical, saying, ‘someone just came with a gun and took all of our money,’” their mother Jennifer recounted. Byrne added, “My kids immediately just put their hands up and said &#8216;take whatever you want.&#8217; So, I&#8217;m proud of my kids for that and I&#8217;m proud of them for basically protecting each other, but also being smart in that bad situation.”
That pride, however, came wrapped in fury. “This is appalling, this is grotesque. This is something that should not happen to young kids,” Byrne said. “Can&#8217;t have a gun and can&#8217;t be robbing lemonade stands. It&#8217;s as easy as that.”
“The youngest one, my daughter, she was saying she’s scared to walk home from the bus stop, which is only two blocks away,” Jennifer noted.
Boston police released surveillance footage of the two juvenile suspects Thursday, and District C-6 detectives are actively investigating. No arrests have been made.
The story does have one redemptive note: City Councilor Ed Flynn announced that the stand will reopen Friday at 5:30 p.m, adding, “South Boston neighbors are helping these kids reopen their lemonade stand. Let&#8217;s show them how much love and support the Southie community has for them. It is also our understanding that 50% of proceeds will be donated to a local organization working to prevent gun violence.”
Anyone with information is urged to contact detectives at (617) 343-4742.

Kids Can’t Even Run A Lemonade Stand In Dem-Run City

Boston

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Popular kids content creator Ms. Rachel visited an anti-ICE protest this week, where she sang a song with children about bringing &#8220;down the walls everywhere &#8230; until everyone&#8217;s free&#8221; outside of a detention facility that holds illegal immigrants.
In a video posted on social media, Ms. Rachel was seen outside Delaney Hall in New Jersey, where she joined children in the apparent anti-ICE protest.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Ms Rachel is outside Delaney Hall DHS center in NJ singing about knocking down walls and freeing criminal illegal aliens.
Parents, keep your kids away! <a href="https://t.co/MswGteLXM7">pic.twitter.com/MswGteLXM7</a>
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/2064777964760318172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Ms. Rachel&#8217;s anti-ICE protest is one of the furthest steps she has taken in explicitly expressing her political views as the character Ms. Rachel, but it&#8217;s not the first time she has been outspoken about her leftist views. Ms. Rachel has also pushed LGBT talking points and even told trans-identifying man Dylan Mulvaney in 2023 that she would like him to “be on our show, Songs For Littles!&#8221;
She has partnered with people like Jules Hoffman, an androgynous-looking character whose pronouns are “they/them/theirs” on her Instagram profile. Hoffman invited children to an event called “Queer Fam Pride Jam,” where a man dressed in a skin-tight leopard-print outfit danced provocatively in front of the kids as they handed him money. At the beginning of &#8220;Pride Month&#8221; in 2024, Ms. Rachel also released a video celebrating it and expressing her love for the LGBT community.
Ms. Rachel&#8217;s YouTube series &#8220;Songs For Littles&#8221; has grown rapidly in recent years, and her YouTube channel has reached 20.2 million subscribers. She receives over 400 million views each month, with her most popular video receiving over a billion views.
Ms. Rachel has gained massive popularity largely due to her uncanny ability to “entrance” and entertain babies and toddlers. She has even been called the “world’s babysitter.”
Ms. Rachel has also recently partnered with New York City Democratic-Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

TODAY – Season 73

The Political Transformation Of Ms. Rachel Continues

ice protests

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

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YouTuber Jesse Ridgeway, who goes by McJuggerNuggets to his over 4 million subscribers, has sparked heated debates over the last week after announcing that he and his wife had chosen to get an abortion. The couple recorded themselves explaining that decision after discovering the unborn child had a high likelihood of being born with Down syndrome.
The pro-life crowd rightfully called out this evil for what it is: eugenics. Even some leftists seemed to grapple with the larger ramifications, with several X commenters expressing their cognitive dissonance that abortion on demand for any reason is good, but also people with disabilities should be protected.
Ridgeway <a href="https://x.com/McJuggerNuggets/status/2062315803177881822">said</a> when he first found out the baby may have Down syndrome, he was &#8220;optimistic&#8221; and would try to &#8220;make it work&#8221; if the child was just &#8220;a little slow intellectually.&#8221; But he decided against it. &#8220;I just didn&#8217;t fully understand what Down syndrome entailed,&#8221; he explained. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t realize just how rough it is for the child, let alone the family … more often than not, they would be fully dependent on others for the rest of their life.&#8221;
The one thing no one seems to be talking about is how Ridgeway opened up a conversation that should be seen as a gift to the pro-life argument. That is, he exposed the reality of why abortions are happening, and it’s not the extreme situations that so often dominate headlines.
Pro-abortion advocates would love for the general public to picture abortions happening only when the baby was going to die anyway, or when the woman was raped, or very, very early in a pregnancy when the fetus was supposedly nothing more than a meaningless clump of cells. For years, pro-lifers have pushed back on that narrative with facts and reason. But it took a random YouTuber to show the reality of who is getting abortions and why.
Per the National Library of Medicine, the most <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3729671/?shem=rimspwouoe,">common reasons</a> women seek abortion include “financial reasons (40%), timing (36%), partner related reasons (31%), and the need to focus on other children (29%). Most women reported multiple reasons for seeking an abortion crossing over several themes (64%).&#8221;
Studies show that at least 67% of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome in the United States are aborted. In Iceland, there are almost no cases of Down syndrome because those who have it are killed before they have the chance to be born.
Between 350,000 and 400,000 Americans have Down syndrome, meaning they were born with an extra chromosome. When polled, these individuals consistently say they are satisfied with their life and were happy they were born, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/youtube-star-ends-life-of-unborn-child-after-down-syndrome-diagnosis">reported</a>. 
The Ridgeways going viral for the killing of their unborn child has prompted parents, siblings, and friends of people living with Down syndrome to post stories of why their lives are amazing. They speak of challenges, yes, but also of a surprising joy that can only come from accepting reality. People of faith would call this following God’s plan. However, even non-religious people can understand the futility in trying to control the world and the peace that comes from embracing life as it comes. 
It also points to a larger question: Who is qualified to determine what makes a life worth living? 
Stories such as the Ridgeways&#8217; are gleefully held up by the pro-abortion crowd as proof of why abortion should exist. But this viral Down syndrome story is a bridge too far for many people who recognize that Trisomy 21 isn’t life-limiting enough to warrant a death sentence. They are pointing out how people with Down syndrome are often the happiest individuals they know. Why do they deserve to die for being “differently abled,” as progressives would say?
I used to have a distant acquaintance who was an ob-gyn who performed abortions. We would get into surface-level debates all the time about abortion. I will never forget the one time she conceded to me on one point: sex-selective abortions. She recalled a time her patient, who only wanted two children, came into her office to schedule a second-term abortion after finding out she was pregnant with a second girl. “All I could think about was this woman’s adorable toddler, with blonde curls and big eyes, and think she was making a huge mistake terminating a healthy pregnancy,” she told me.
Even someone participating in such an evil act had a moral standard. Most Americans who believe abortion should be legal also have lines they won&#8217;t cross, which are commonly determined by gestational age. But the thing about lines is that they are incredibly arbitrary. If we tell mothers only to abort for life-limiting medical reasons, then who gets to decide what counts as life-limiting? 
Ridgeway has made it clear that the real justifications people give for abortion — Down syndrome, my boyfriend broke up with me, I wanted a boy instead, I’m just really tired — are flimsy excuses when it comes down to it. Abortion is never the right choice. Now that the reasons it keeps happening are out in the open, we can start having honest conversations about it.

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He Thought He Was Defending Abortion. Instead, He Exposed It.

Abortion

Upstream

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***
Today’s college students probably don’t remember, but when the iPhone first rolled out in 2007, some technology analysts thought it would fail. “There is no likelihood that Apple can be successful in a business this competitive,” wrote a <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-should-pull-the-plug-on-the-iphone">MarketWatch</a> columnist. Microsoft CEO <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2007/04/ballmer-says-iphone-has-no-chance-to-gain-significant-market-share/">Steve Ballmer</a> was even more emphatic: “There&#8217;s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.” 
Well, they were wrong, in more ways than one. The iPhone not only became the most popular smartphone in the world, but also helped accelerate the digital transformation of society. The iPhone, and the slew of competitors that followed it, undeniably changed the way we communicate, consume media, and interact with each other. As a new <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w35310">research paper</a> suggests, it also changed the nature and method of how we form relationships and families as well. 
Observers and commentators have been speculating that smartphones have been affecting marriage and fertility decisions for over a decade now. The argument goes something like this: How can the phones not have had an impact? Staying at home to binge-watch a show has <a href="https://ptbwrites.substack.com/p/hello-netflix-my-old-friend">gotten easier</a> and more enjoyable than when the alternative was reading a novel or schlepping down to the bar. Finding an image or video for sexual gratification has gotten easier than when the nearest X-rated movie was kept behind the counter at the video store. Every airport terminal, cocktail reception, or subway ride — places where we used to mix, mingle, and maybe even meet-cute — is relatively more boring compared to the feeds, podcasts, and videos burning a hole in your pocket. 
In other words, it’s less about the devices themselves than the entertainment and communications alternatives they enable. That’s been the supposition, and now those of us who said smartphones and digital media have changed something fundamental about youth and young adulthood in the 21st century have new empirical grounding for this belief. 
The strength of the new working paper comes from another oft-forgotten detail about the iPhone’s rollout: For the first few years after Apple introduced the new device, you could only get it on the AT&amp;T network. By comparing counties that had AT&amp;T mobile broadband access in the time the iPhone was being rolled out to those that didn’t, researchers Caitlin Myers and Ezekiel Hooper of Middlebury College were able to estimate what increasing iPhone access did to birth rates. 
Taken at face value, their results suggest a meaningful, measurable impact of smartphone access on birth rates. In particular, they find particularly large impacts on young women in their teens and early 20s who lived in areas that were early adopters of AT&amp;T broadband coverage (birth rates among older women were more steady.) If their point estimates are correct, this difference could explain as much as one-third of the decline in fertility over the past two decades. As Myers and Hooper sum up, “the iPhone, and the smartphone era it inaugurated, materially accelerated the post-2007 U.S. fertility decline.” 
None of this is to say that this paper can be taken as gospel. The rollout of 3G broadband service, for example, could be correlated in an unseen way with characteristics that were driving down fertility. (Imagine if the urban neighborhoods that were more likely to be selected for 3G access were also more likely to have young women who were disproportionately likely to turn against motherhood after the Great Recession.) The iPhones in 2007 were far less addictive and immersive than the modern-day versions, with users more likely to be checking e-mail and painstakingly logging into MySpace than getting notifications of new likes and comments. The introduction of the iPhone also coincided with a year of tremendous economic tumult and the near-collapse of the global financial system. 
The researchers try to account for these differences as best they can, by re-weighting the data to account for differences in observable characteristics, but differences that can’t be identified by reviewers (such as cultural norms, local attitudes toward marriage, and other intangibles) could still be causing the paper to look stronger than it is.
Then again, no one research paper will ever be the definitive last word. And what this new work does is give us more evidence (as if more was needed) that the digital revolution is upending the way we interact as humans, something Pope Leo XIV’s new <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/an-encyclical-for-the-ages-ai-universities-and-builders-of-humanity">encyclical </a>Magnifica Humanitas explicitly addresses. The specific technology itself is almost immaterial; if Steve Ballmer had been right, and the iPhone had flopped, the introduction of social media, short-form video, and always-on communication, information, pornography, and entertainment on whatever device would have still had an impact on our dating and mating culture. 
At this point, anyone who is arguing that phones didn’t change societal scripts in a meaningful way has the burden of proof. We can feel it in small ways, even if we don’t like it — like Ben Lichtenstein, a 24-year-old interviewed by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/03/31/magazine/quit-smartphone-addiction-social-media.html">New York Times</a> magazine earlier this year. “I’ve noticed that I can’t so much as wait for the elevator without scrolling through TikTok,” he said. “It’s the best distraction. It makes the time pass. But more and more, I’m like: Why do we want the time to pass?” 
We need to try to build tools, habits, and norms that reclaim not just the time in the elevator lobby, but the institutions, rituals, and phone-free meet-ups that used to help couples hit it off. If we don&#8217;t address the impact of digital tech on our family formation decisions, the consequences could be dire.
***
Patrick T. Brown (@<a href="http://www.twitter.com/ptbwrites">PTBwrites</a>) is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he writes on pro-family policy and publishes the Substack newsletter <a href="https://ptbwrites.substack.com/">Family Matters</a>.

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The Family Formation Crisis May Have Started With A Trade Most Americans Gladly Accepted

Birth Rates

family

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***
Are todays’ kids too badly behaved and poorly parented to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/19/us/kid-free-children-public-places-cec">share adult-oriented spaces</a>, such as restaurants, weddings, and public transportation? Or do the childless adults <a href="https://mamasaywhat.com/no-kids-allowed/">demanding insulation</a> from children’s antics as they sip their lattes, say their vows, or commute to work just need to get a grip and grow up already? 
This is one of those <a href="https://x.com/foxnews/status/2059712468092432581?s=43">Internet Discourses</a> in which people are <a href="https://x.com/daniellebfranz/status/2059808260987801815?s=43">talking endlessly</a> past one another, ignoring that both things are true: Yes, American parents absolutely need to raise kids who behave better, and, yes, childless adults who want to live without interruptions from crying babies or laughing preschoolers need to be ignored like the overgrown toddlers they are.
A couple things are happening at once here, confounding our collective ability to see and act on the nuanced reality.
One, lack of accommodation for <a href="https://eppc.org/publication/what-makes-america-family-unfriendly-a-qa-with-tim-carney/">children and families</a> is real, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as fewer people have children and it becomes less common to see children out and about. It then also becomes less presumptive to take children into true and special consideration when making policy and other decisions.
Two, millennials, in mass thrall to <a href="https://www.collegiatetimes.com/opinion/gentle-parenting-it-s-setting-kids-up-to-fail/article_cc30dc0d-a40d-4d6f-815b-a339ab012085.html">gentle parenting</a> and its lies about <a href="https://unherd.com/2024/12/the-cruelty-of-gentle-parenting/">child development</a>, have produced way too many badly behaved kids and not enough well-behaved ones. As a result, people see so little decent parenting in public that we’ve forgotten how varied even good child-rearing can look in relation to kids of different ages. 
Children should be expected to exist in public
A few weeks ago, I took my four children — ages 11, nine, five, and two — into the kind of Center City Philadelphia coffee shop where one does not typically see children (let alone four of them in one family). No one bothered us, and everyone was kind to us. But we sure got a lot of stares. You know who did not provoke that level of interest? The several dogs on leashes inside this same establishment. Why? Because that eatery, given its clientele, is clearly more commonly frequented by canines than by kids. 
Is this a problem, in and of itself? Of course not. But when children’s presence is alien to large and growing swaths of the population, an unfamiliarity with kids’ norms and needs takes root far beyond a few froufrou coffee shops. 
Take our response to the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/12/12/nx-s1-5638421/new-study-reveals-effects-of-covid-school-closures-on-students-mental-health">coronavirus pandemic</a>. Remember how bars opened ahead of schools in many places? Remember how our inane decision to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/04/school-closures-predictable-disaster/682431/">close schools</a> at all was ultimately a regressive tax on poor and working-class children? Remember how senior citizens and childless adults tended to oppose the reopening of schools more than anyone else? When children are largely hidden from view — when their needs are not apparent to people beyond their parents — the devaluation of their well-being is normalized. 
For example, my sons have provoked their fair share of adult upset over the years for existing in pools. In one memorable incident, an elderly woman came over to yell at my then seven-year-old and five-year-old (and me) because they were jumping repeatedly into the pool, giggling and splashing — and had gotten her wetter than she wished to be. I responded charitably due to her advanced age, but one has to wonder what manner of society produces senior citizens who enter pools of their own free choice during a time designated “family swim” and then publicly react in anger when they encounter, um, water.
Such a curmudgeonly attitude toward children’s noise and play in shared spaces, and our acceptance of it, reflects values that are exactly backwards. Children’s needs should be our top priority; childless adults’ desires should be our last. In a healthy culture, any adult who said or behaved otherwise would thereby forfeit her right to any regard or respect. 
Gentle parents are ruining America — and maybe your dinner
As I <a href="https://lawliberty.org/the-case-against-gentle-parenting/">have written</a> <a href="https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2025/11/99390/">many times</a>, <a href="https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2025/01/01/gentle-parenting-mufasa-lion-king/">gentle parenting</a> — defined as prioritizing young children’s feelings over their behavior — has many unintended, negative consequences for kids and parents alike. A baseline of decreased tolerance for children in public spaces is one of them. 
There are two things at play here. One is that too many of today’s kids really are abominably behaved. A few months ago, I took my five-year-old in for a sleep study. The veteran nurse who cared for him shared with me that she could no longer count on children his age to sit still while she prepared them for evaluation. Many won’t listen when their parents instruct them to sit still. Some kick, scream, or hit. A substantial percentage need to be pacified with screens in order to complete their appointments. 
If you ever frequent restaurants, churches, or other public spaces where children are present, none of this will surprise you. Beleaguered parents weakly pleading with five-year-olds who don’t sit still to “make a better choice” over a plate of French fries at the local diner is common. Indeed, this kind of permissiveness and abdication cuts across enough demographic divides of class and political ideology that it’s no longer accurate to associate it only with those who profess “gentle parenting.” It is, per Hannah Spier, normative “<a href="https://hannahspier.substack.com/p/the-rise-of-the-pathological-mother">millennial parenting</a>.” This is a colossal and multifaceted problem that requires swift and thorough remediation.  
That said, the other aspect of decreasing tolerance for children in public spaces is childless adults’ determination to denigrate whatever inconveniences them without regard to the context — in other words, to be gentle parented by society, including by children, themselves. 
As <a href="https://x.com/stephmurrayyyy/status/2060369884786180504">Stephanie Murray</a> has pointed out, the child throwing a tantrum at Target may actually have great parents. After all, he’s screaming because he isn’t getting what he wants, and that’s likely because the adult in charge isn’t giving in. Sure, the five or six-year-old screaming wildly outside the grocery store while his mom attempts to comfort him is almost certainly a gentle-parented disaster with overindulgent parents. But the two- or three-year-old screaming just as wildly? She usually isn’t!
Indeed, it’s the very parents who are willing to let their toddlers throw tantrums — in public and in private — who produce preschoolers who have long since stopped doing so. Children of such parents were told “no” constantly and consistently in toddlerhood, and they learned that tantrums neither changed “no” to “yes” nor garnered them any attention. 
So, yes, it’s on parents to ensure that preschoolers are civilized into the ability to behave appropriately enough in adult-oriented spaces. But it’s also on the rest of society to have the maturity, decency, and grace to remember that the well-named “terrible twos” should not involve house arrest for young families. Moreover, to any right-thinking person, running and laughing kids are not an affront to public peace but the primary reason to preserve it. The dad of a crying toddler on an airplane or the mom of a grade schooler who accidentally drops some books with a thud at the library, for example, should garner genuine smiles and sincere sympathy from other adults, not scowls and eye rolls. 
Frankly, we should all begin from a premise of gratitude to today’s parents for raising the next generation. After all, in this anti-child, anti-family ecology, that’s no longer a given. 
***
Elizabeth Grace Matthew writes about books, education, and culture, including <a href="https://elizabethgracematthew.substack.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on Substack</a>.

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How Gentle Parenting Helped Turn America Against Children

Parenting

Parents who were excited about the villain of the next “Toy Story” franchise film are about to be disappointed. Film director Andrew Stanton explained during a recent interview that the rumors aren’t technically true.
The teaser trailer, released in November, indicated that the villain this time around is a new tablet called “Lilypad,” which steals main character Bonnie’s attention as she forgoes playing to scroll. This recognizable storyline immediately resonated with parents and helped justify the idea of yet another “Toy Story” sequel.
“[Lilypad] is [the villain] to the toys because they’re understandably intimidated,” Stanton <a href="https://variety.com/2026/film/news/toy-story-5-aging-woody-lilypad-1236750424/">told</a> Variety while clarifying the iPad stand-in is not meant to be the overall bad guy. 
“She’s just the next phase in Bonnie’s life. She’s built like a toy in the sense that she wants to help the kid go forward, but she’s got very different skills and zero experience, whereas Jessie has nothing but experience and is probably unprepared for what to do.”
Co-director McKenna Harris told the outlet that several “Toy Story 5” creators pushed to turn Lilypad into a true villain, but that idea was ultimately shot down.
“Lots of people at the studio wanted her to be a villain, and it was so hard to strike the balance because I think we all come in with such loaded emotions towards devices. At the end of the day, it never made sense,” she said.  
Harris added that the filmmakers tried to make the narrative realistic, which in this case meant learning to coexist with tech. “We’re not getting rid of these devices, no matter how hard we try. I’m always going to have my phone. I’m probably going to be partially addicted to it. So it felt right for the toys to have to grapple with that nuance.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Toy Story 5 | Final Trailer | Get Tickets Now" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QftAW9TTmuQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
While the minds behind “Toy Story 5” agree that tech is here to stay, they also revealed that the film relied on traditional animation techniques instead of straight AI.
“We’ve had machine learning since the beginning of Pixar as far as figuring things out for you occasionally, but it’s always been to make the tools work better. I have no interest in doing anything but working smarter, faster with another artist,” Stanton said.
Harris agreed, telling Variety, “Pixar is a technology company first, and so things are changing. Pixar is figuring out how to change along with it. But as far as our process on ‘Toy Story 5’ went, we had to figure it out ourselves, mainly because ultimately, what you’re seeing on screen is the work of a lot of awesome artists.”
The voice cast for &#8220;Toy Story 5&#8221; includes Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Joan Cusack, who return to their roles of Woody, Buzz, and Jessie. Greta Lee voices Lilypad.
The official synopsis says, “The toys are back and this time, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang’s jobs are challenged when they come face-to-face with Lilypad (voice of Greta Lee), a brand-new tablet device that arrives with her own disruptive ideas about what is best for their kid, Bonnie. Will playtime ever be the same?”
The full trailer was released on February 19. “Toy Story 5” hits theaters June 19.

Toy Story 5

‘Toy Story 5’ Plot Twist Set To Disappoint Parents

'Toy Story 5' Director Shares Plot Spoiler That Parents Won't Like

Animation

Entertainment

Hollywood

Movies

Technology

Toy Story

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
Imagine an op-ed titled &#8220;Why I Hate Black People.&#8221; Imagine a TikTok confessional where a young woman lists, with practiced disdain, the reasons she finds deaf people insufferable or embarrassing in public. Both scenarios would demand a metaphorical public crucifixion, and that is the correct response.
Now swap in &#8220;children&#8221; for either of those groups, and you&#8217;ve described an <a href="https://www.salon.com/2015/10/07/im_a_baby_hater_and_im_not_sorry/">ordinary</a> Tuesday on the <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/discover/i-dont-like-kids">internet</a>.
A culture that prides itself on rooting out bigotry seemingly left one arena available for public contempt. Ironically, they are the smallest, weakest, most innocent, and least able to defend themselves. We have built an entire vocabulary for these supposedly despicable creatures. We have lovely new nicknames for them, such as &#8220;crotch goblin&#8221; or &#8220;semen demon.&#8221; These are some of the commonly used slurs designed to dehumanize children. Terms such as &#8220;child-free by choice&#8221; and &#8220;DINK&#8221; (dual income, no kids) have also been invented to tout one&#8217;s self-righteous status for choosing not to procreate.
This is actual bigotry. It meets every textbook definition. It dehumanizes a class of people on the basis of an immutable characteristic — a characteristic, incidentally, that every person sneering at it once possessed.
The 28-year-old who calls children &#8220;parasites&#8221; was, 28 years ago, a parasite by her own definition. Someone fed her, changed her, and taught her to read. She might even spend hours in therapy waxing on about how her imperfect parents ruined her life through those very sacrifices. This is the same type of person who finds herself annoyed by the number of children walking around Disney World.
We have taken the cultural sneer and codified it into law. The same civilization that demonizes children on social media insists the most defenseless among us can be killed at will. The unborn can be eliminated for any reason or none. They call that freedom of choice. Over 63 million American children have been killed in the womb since the Roe v. Wade decision. Worldwide, the running total is in the billions. There has never been a more thorough campaign of violence against any class of human beings in history, and we have rebranded it as &#8220;reproductive health.&#8221;
Just recently, the Supreme Court allowed the abortion pill to keep flowing through the mail. In <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/%E2%81%A8supreme-court-issues-major-decision-on-abortion-pill-deals-blow-to-pro-life-fight">Louisiana v. FDA</a>, the court left intact the Food and Drug Administration rules permitting mifepristone, the chemical agent now responsible for the majority of American abortions, to be prescribed over a telehealth call and dropped into a mailbox like a birthday card. When a civilization is shipping chemical death to young women&#8217;s doorsteps in unmarked envelopes, the mask has fallen entirely.
Some celebrate plummeting birth rates as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/population-panic-pushed-deadly-policies-the-truth-finally-comes-out">ecological progress</a>. They think it would be unforgivable to bring life into the world in its current form. What a staggeringly unsustainable point of view. People obviously had children throughout every era of human existence, or we would not be here today. 
Others simply do not care; they cannot see anything in their life past their next drink. They cheer for airlines that promise child-free cabins. They treat a baby crying on a flight as a moral failing on the parents&#8217; part. But a crying child is something far more important: a tiny human, brand-new to the world, doing the only thing she knows how to do.
We have built a culture that worships the unbothered self: autonomous, frictionless, infinitely optimized. Children are inconvenient to that god. They cry when you are tired. They need things when you are busy. They cannot be muted, blocked, or scheduled. They demand from you the one thing the modern American refuses to surrender: autonomy. So we have decided, quietly and then loudly, that the problem is them.
The demographers can show you the curve. Births are collapsing across the developed world. South Korea&#8217;s fertility rate has fallen below 0.8. Japan loses a city&#8217;s worth of people every year. Europe is graying into a museum, and the United States is not far behind. Humanity has a catastrophic population problem in addition to its spiritual rot. 
By contrast, Scripture paints a very different picture. &#8220;Children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward&#8221; (Psalm 127:3). When the disciples tried to enforce a child-free zone around Jesus, he rebuked them sharply. &#8220;Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God&#8221; (Mark 10:14).
Charlie Kirk famously <a href="https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1947489521056288935">argued</a>, “More people should get married young and have more kids than they can afford.” The idea of having more children than you can afford comes with a built-in subtext. It forces people to live for more than themselves. Having children gives someone a purpose outside themselves. The divine command to “be fruitful and multiply” drives people to love harder, earn more, and stop being so selfish. It also allows the legacy of humanity to continue well beyond any one lifetime. 
Maybe you had an awful childhood filled with parental abuse. This is all too common in modern society. Your upbringing could have been filled with trauma you rightfully wouldn’t wish upon others. You have the opportunity to be the generational change your family line needs. Abusive views on children win when they are not intentionally and forcefully refused and replaced. Have children, love them, protect them, and give them the life you wish you had been given.
One who intentionally chooses not to have children, or who discourages others from doing so, is making a choice that defies history. Every single one of your ancestors, back to Adam, brought life into this world and continued doing so — hence you being on this planet now. The proud DINK believes she has chosen the better path. In reality, she has chosen hedonism.
A society that cannot tolerate its own young is a society that has lost the plot of its own existence. Every cathedral, every constitution, every poem worth reading was made by adults who were once helpless infants — adults who, at some point in their helplessness, were loved by someone who decided their existence was worth the inconvenience. Strip that out, and there is nothing left to inherit and no one to inherit it.
We need to look at the children in our pews and our stores and our parks and our family rooms and remember that they are not interruptions to our personal convenience. They are people. They are a blessing. They are the future.

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The Cultural Trend Poisoning America

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
Welcome to Maycember. If you’re a parent, you get this reference. In case you’re unaware of the social media term, it’s a reference to a whirlwind of deadlines and holidays: all the plays, recitals, field trips, projects due, tests and quizzes, student council elections, teacher’s appreciation week (ironically the same week as Mother’s Day weekend), Memorial Day weekend, and finally the end of the school year. It’s a lot.
I was recently a chaperone for our school choir’s annual competition, including over 50 fourth through eighth graders. We leave the school before 7 a.m., they compete, enjoy a Jersey Mike’s sandwich picnic, and spend half a day at Universal Studios Hollywood for junk food and rides. 
It’s controlled chaos, but our school enforces a few things that make it easier on chaperones. First, no phones except to text mom and dad. Second, dress code; it’s a parochial school, so even though the kids can be in “street clothes,” they have a guideline of allowable attire. Third, the moms (and some brave dads) chaperoning have the authority to discipline, to an extent. Like, “if you do that again, you will miss this next ride,” or “put your phone away or I will tell the principal.” Ignoring these threats actually has consequences. 
These rules are possible because of the tight-knit community we have of 150 families who have chosen a school with basic rules derived from biblical beliefs and a concept of human dignity. These principles used to be more common throughout society. But now, they&#8217;re often lacking in our leaders and teachers.
Thankfully, I was encouraged throughout the day as my chaperone buddy and our assigned group of eight middle schoolers made our way through the park, maneuvering around crowds, waiting in lines, going on rides, and buying and eating lunch. Instead of passersby being oblivious to our existence, they were aware and engaging. Many times, I got a thumbs up, admiring smile, or verbal affirmation from total strangers at how we were communicating with and to the students. 
I’m pretty strict too.  You will often hear me telling my children and others, “Be aware of your surroundings.” 
“Say excuse me!” 
“Move to the right! The escalator is like the road.”
“Keep your hands to yourself.”
“Hold the door for that mama!”
Once, when waiting in line for the kids to order some hyper-sugary boba drink, I told them to all have their orders ready to go, told them to have card or cash in hand, and explained sales tax so they’d have the right amount. A couple behind us said, “Whoa, if only more adults had the same level of preparedness. This is so nice to see!” We were a walking advertisement for decency, and maybe even our school. 
Social awareness has gotten worse, especially since the pandemic. Humans, particularly children, weren’t spending time in public. What used to be socially normal interactions became so rare that almost everyone we came across was either afraid to see us, or us to see them — as if their presence outside of their homes was going to be judged. We started judging instead of engaging.
We should go back to a culture of encouraging people to be considerate, socially aware human beings. Hold the door open for someone, walk down the street without looking down at your phone, chat with strangers, help a mom, and, heck, shame a kid for cutting in line, talking back to an adult, or acting dumb. 
Bring back thoughtful kids, and bring back adults who aren&#8217;t afraid to guide them in the right direction.
***
Elisha Krauss is a conservative commentator, writer, and speaker who resides in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and their four children. She is an advocate for women’s rights, school choice, and smaller government.

Child siblings running on amusement park

The School Trip That Became A Wake-Up Call About Modern Parenting

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
Summer is coming. Do you know where your children are?
Chances are you do because they haven’t left your sight. They are sitting at home, staring at a screen, scrolling through TikTok videos, texting friends, and gaming the hours away.
As researchers have documented at length, most especially in Jonathan Haidt&#8217;s &#8220;The Anxious Generation,&#8221; screens have contributed to an anxiety epidemic, fractured attention spans, and increasing emotional fragility in American children.
The answer to this crisis is not merely to cut down on screen time, but to replace screen hours with tangible, immersive, unstructured time in the natural world.
Author Richard Louv coined the term “nature-deficit disorder” to describe how less time in nature harms modern-day children’s health, development, and wellbeing. But it’s not enough to simply get kids outside. Children don’t need to spend another week at an organized wilderness camp or to enroll in an additional sport. This only takes children out of their digital box to put them into a more physical one.
What children most need this summer is, well, nothing.
Every day this summer, have your kids spend at least one hour outside. No structure. No agenda. No goal. Let them climb trees, make up games, roll in grass, and be bored. If they do that, here’s what will happen.
First, they will slowly recover their attention spans. In Haidt’s research, he found a clear link between social media use on the one hand and fragmented attention and reduced sustained focus on the other.
While extended screen time <a href="https://screentimeinstitute.org/the-impact-of-screen-time-on-childrens-cognitive-development/">stunts</a> the ability to focus, being outside does the opposite. Sometimes, this starts with boredom. Unable to satisfy the urge for distraction with a swipe of the finger, kids outside are encouraged to think. They will notice details they had been too distracted to see before. They will build worlds and invent games from their own imaginations instead of accepting the pre-packaged slop of the internet.
The brick wall they used to ignore outside becomes the rampart of a fortress. Never-before-noticed outdoor furniture covers become the perfect hideaway. The spiderweb in the side yard is no web at all, but an enchanted passageway only the most courageous dare cross.
In days, you’ll notice the once glossy-eyes of your phone-addicted child become full of life.
Second, unstructured time outdoors yields resiliency and independence. Too often in our suburbanized lives, we have professionalized play. Kids are directed to sports, games, and activities with rules they did not create, structures to which they must conform, and parents and coaches always watching. This overly structured life may shield children from present difficulties or even teach them valuable lessons, but it robs them of opportunities to think outside the box and traverse challenges on their own in the long term.
When kids are outside, they’re exposed to the elements. They run and they fall. They get dirty and they scrape their knees. Then, they learn to get back up and keep running. They get a little turned around and have to remember which way home is. They take risks, learn with every misstep, and begin to put experiential knowledge into practice. Without parents watching, they feel free to make mistakes. And they also know if they do, they will have to try to fix them themselves. In short, they learn to become young men and women.
Finally, children who spend time outdoors learn to love the natural world around them. Kids who grow up hiking, fishing, and gazing at the mountains learn that the greatest trees were never planted, the best roads aren’t paved, and the comfort of air conditioning can never beat the beauty of the open sky.
But you don&#8217;t need wilderness to spark wonder. Even in suburbia, a backyard, community garden, or neighborhood park can teach kids to love creation. And if you decide to drive outside the city for some extra breathing room, all the better. No matter the method, know that kids who experience God’s creation are more likely to be good stewards of it.
One hour outside: That’s all it takes. So this summer, offer your kids the freedom to play without a plan. Give them room to experience life outdoors. Let’s raise a generation that can reconnect with the natural world and just be kids again.
***
Clare Ath is the cofounder and executive director of Vita et Terra, a conservative Catholic environmental nonprofit that champions care for creation.

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‘Bored’ Kids Are Making A Comeback. Some Parents Say It’s Changing Everything.

Internet

Social Media

Millennials are rejoicing as a staple of their childhood will make a triumphant return this summer.
Pizza Hut just announced that their “Book It!” summer reading program, which encourages kids to read more books in exchange for free pizza, will be making a comeback. The restaurant announced the news on social media last week.
&#8220;SUMMER OF STORIES IS BACK!” the post caption said, adding that enrollment begins today, May 1. &#8220;Get ready to turn reading time into pizza time! This summer, keep your kids&#8217; reading, learning, and loving books… all while earning FREE pizza.&#8221;
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The free program will reward young readers who hit their milestones by providing them with digital Reading Award Certificates, which are redeemable for a free, one-topping Personal Pan Pizza from Pizza Hut. Students can earn up to one free pizza per month.
The promo is available for students in grades preschool through 6th, but commenters insist it should be extended to adults, too.
“Millennials need an adult version! Some of us are still readers because of this program!” one reaction said.
“Can us Gen X and millennials get this back for us!!! Us big kid need pizza too,” a second person echoed.
“Thank you so much for bringing this program back! I have a 1st grader who we&#8217;ve been expressing the importance of reading so having this program as an incentive is helpful,” another person said.
“We are so excited! The nostalgia that our kiddo gets to participate!” another person wrote.
The Book It! program began following a 1984 initiative from President Ronald Reagan calling for more businesses to promote education. It was created by Arthur Gunther, the president of Pizza Hut at the time, and marketing executive Bud Gates, per The New York Times. More than 70 million children have participated in the program, resulting in 1.5 billion free pizzas being given out as rewards.
The summer reading Book It! Promotion will run from June 1 until August 31. Parents can sign kids up through the BOOK IT! App.

Pizza Hut

Millennials Celebrate A Childhood Staple Making A Comeback

Books

Food

Restaurant

U.S.

Instead of pointing fingers at permissive judges or poor mental health for the horrific mass shooting in Shreveport, a writer for New York Magazine has decided to blame … the patriarchy.
The outlet claimed that 31-year-old U.S. Army veteran Shamar Elkins, the man accused of killing eight children, including seven of his own, was the victim of a society that believes women belong to men.
“It is tempting to treat Elkins’s actions as the isolated incident of a madman. But poor mental health is never a reasonable explanation for attempting to execute one’s wife and children,” <a href="https://www.thecut.com/article/shreveport-killing-shamar-elkins-mental-health-patriarchy.html">wrote</a> Brittney Cooper, a Cut contributor who “writes about race and systems of power.”
“Patriarchy offers a better explanation for this violence,” she went on. “Patriarchy teaches men that women and children belong to them, that they are property that men get to have, as a male rite of passage. Men are taught, in what bell hooks famously called a ‘white supremacist capitalist patriarchy,’ to measure their worth and value by the size of their bank account, the size of their genitals, and the size of their families. These are forms of toxic self-value, predicated as they are on women and children having no agency or dreams of their own.”
Cooper went on to lament “the rise of the manosphere” and “a nation being led by a group of right-wing extremists with Neanderthal ideas about gender and sexuality.”
“Men who kill their wives and children are not just bad apples who needed a free month of BetterHelp. These killings are the natural outcome of a country enamored with patriarchy and determined to make sure that men can freely dominate women,” she insists.
Readers on social media pushed back strongly on this theory.
“Well you couldn&#8217;t make it about racism, so I guess Patriarchy seemed like a good idea. Though I bet if you tried you could make it about racism and how mostly female mental health professionals won&#8217;t take on poor Black male clients. Of course then, no patriarchy. Tough,” one sarcastic commenter <a href="https://x.com/thevanosam/status/2046572431159038339">wrote</a>.
“The race is inconvenient, so we switch to a gender motive. He was a criminal, a gun criminal no less. But instead of being locked up, the people that screech constantly about gun violence, went easy on him as they always do. It’s a story about leftist policies causing more death,” another person <a href="https://x.com/occhipig/status/2046549453838897514">added</a>.
Elkins, who appeared to be targeting his own “descendants,” opened fire in three different homes across Shreveport on April 19. He was shot and killed by police after he attempted to carjack a vehicle to escape.
Shreveport officials described the shooting as domestic violence, saying Elkins shot the mother of his children and another woman, as well as his seven children and one of their cousins, per <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/04/21/shamar-elkins-shreveport-louisiana-shooter/89710200007/">USA Today</a>. 
The outlet noted that Elkins married Shaneiqua Pugh in April 2024. A woman named Christina Snow sued Elkins for child support and was granted joint custody of their child, Sariahh, in 2017. Sariahh was one of the victims of the shooting.

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