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.
***
Many, especially those on the political right, are encouraging Americans to have more babies. Proposed policies aim to provoke more robust reproduction, including efforts to make the fertility drugs used in IVF more affordable. But what do we say in our current baby-focused political climate to those for who have tried and failed to do their part to reduce the downward-trending birth rates? How can the conversation around population show compassion for those who have tried to have children, sought treatment, and yet remain decidedly un-pregnant?
Enter a little help from popular culture: &#8220;Bridgerton,&#8221; the Netflix Regency-era romance from Shonda Rhimes, which features an infertility story line in its fourth and latest season. (It&#8217;s clear that I need to acknowledge that there are fans of the original Julia Quinn books upset with the change in this story line, from miscarriage to infertility, in the series. I see you. But I have not read the books, so my example will be drawn only from the Netflix series.)
In any case, I do appreciate and always have appreciated an accurate depiction of infertility from the entertainment industry, and especially the rare one that doesn’t ultimately end in pregnancy, so I was glad to see it.  Of course, we don’t know yet how Francesca’s story will end, but (spoiler!) with her husband dead, and an unsuccessful bid at motherhood while he was still living, Francesca may find herself redefining the infertile girl’s happy ending.
After her husband’s death and conclusion that she is not actually pregnant as she believed, her sorrow is at least doubled (though how can anyone measure such a thing?).  Francesca feels she has let people down and left a duty unfulfilled. She feels guilty and alone. It is tempting to think the way she feels way about her infertility is simply a product of her era. But I can tell you as a woman who realized, treated (unsuccessfully), and grieved her own infertility throughout the first 25 years of the 21st century that those feelings can befall even a modern woman. She, too, will find herself asking, “What is wrong with me?”
It is a challenge to know how to support an infertile woman. There are so many ways to put your foot in your mouth. I am thinking of the scene after the terrible physical exam Francesca is forced to endure to confirm that she is pregnant with her deceased husband’s heir. Her mother, also made a widow at a younger age, attempts to empathize with her daughter. Francesca becomes angry and perhaps resentful at her mother’s suggestion that they are the same when Lady Bridgerton has eight children and she has none.
That said, providing comfort is a thing worth trying, especially as time goes on. It is an easier thing to cheer a woman on through treatments, especially at first when it’s all new and hope-filled and ripe with the promise of a baby after her arms have been empty. They say a change is as good as a rest. And the change from navigating infertility on your own to being under the care of a doctor can’t be underestimated. With a new regimen there is also new hope, and hope is fuel we burn in our efforts to keep trying again.
The real challenge comes when the months, medications, and money start adding up and there is still no baby. Just as with that first year of “trying” when you know every month that passes means you’re one month closer to needing to see a doctor for help, with every cycle of treatment, you know that statistically you are less and less likely to find success. And while there are advances in fertility medicine all the time, there are only so many courses of treatment that may work for you. And with each unsuccessful month, you are now even older than when you began, and the undeniable reality of age and fertility only compounds the all-encompassing fears that all of this effort was for naught and it’s never going to happen.
Even with the many advances, doctors can still only do so much. Modern medicine often tries to ease or eradicate physical and psychological suffering, but what about the existential? I don’t think there’s a drug out there that can take away the pain of the unfulfilled desire to become a mother.
So, how should we talk about infertility right now? How do we speak about population decline and infertility with compassion? I’m not sure there’s any right way to do it, but we should try. Rally round, stay close, and listen. Agree that it is sad. Know that you can’t fix things for them. And speak with truth and love.
Remember, too, that the scars of infertility remain long after the possibility of a pregnancy disappears. While I am no longer, oh I don’t know, actively infertile, I still appreciate when babies, pregnancy, and fertility are discussed with charity and compassion. Like Francesca and her mother, it may well be that “we are not the same.”
***
Leigh Fitzpatrick Snead is a fellow with the Catholic Association and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FWXXR28K?ref=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_KSJX3RXM77XVPAYA9G6R&amp;ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_KSJX3RXM77XVPAYA9G6R&amp;social_share=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_KSJX3RXM77XVPAYA9G6R&amp;bestFormat=true">&#8220;Infertile but Fruitful: Finding Fulfillment When You Can&#8217;t Conceive&#8221;</a> out now from Sophia Institute Press.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

“Bridgerton” Season 4 Madrid Masquerade Ball

‘Bridgerton’ Just Told A Story Many Women Know Too Well

Birth Rates

kids

Netflix

Upstream

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.
***
My first thought after reading the viral “I Regret Having Children” <a href="https://www.thecut.com/article/women-regret-having-children.html">article</a> in The Cut was: “Wow, those are some young kids they’re complaining about.” The article consults three moms having second thoughts about their decision to become parents, and the oldest child among them is only 6. There are toddlers and babies but no older kids. That’s telling.
These sorts of articles are horrifying because they normalize a former taboo: admitting you don’t want the children you have. But more than that, they miss a fundamental point about parenthood: It has seasons.
This reminds me of when Chelsea Handler <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/extremely-sad-chelsea-handlers-day-in-the-life-of-a-childless-woman-spoof-goes-viral">made headlines</a> in 2023 for bragging about sleeping in and not shuttling kids to school in the early morning hours. Critics rightly pointed out that considering how the comedian was in her late 40s, it wasn’t unreasonable to assume that if she were a mother, any children she had would be getting themselves on the school bus or even at college sleeping late and partying just like their mom.
The baby years are time-consuming and sleep-deprived, but they are also brief. Toddler years last a little longer and also get more rewarding as your offspring start developing their personalities even more and engaging with the world around them.
Those big kid years? They are challenging too, but also magical and rewarding. Any experienced parent will tell you they are nothing like the baby years. My own kids are getting older, with the youngest out of diapers and the oldest entering her pre-teen years. They pour their own juice, get themselves dressed, clean up after themselves (mostly), and even cook dinner sometimes. Our family is in a completely different rhythm now compared to just five short years ago.
One mom I talked to mentioned how having children is an investment in the future, and that resonated deeply with me. She said for all the sleepless nights, she’s thinking ahead to her Thanksgiving table in 30 years being filled with the family she’s started now. 
The moms interviewed by The Cut complain about missed career opportunities, flabby tummies, and less free time. 
“Having a kid turns you into a morning person the way being chased by a bear turns you into a runner,” one interviewee complained. Another recalls how she “hallucinated from lack of sleep” when her daughter came home from the hospital, while the third said of her one-year-old, “If there is a hell, I’ve been living in it since I gave birth.”
Those are all problems that parents would tell you are worth the trade-off of ensuring the continuation of the family line. But even for these women with more superficial concerns, their desires don’t have to be given up forever. The older the kids, the more independent they become, and the more time moms will have for personal fulfillment again. 
Fortunately, X users were mostly horrified by the views expressed in the article.
“A life focused on pleasure, comfort and money instead of love is ultimately a meaningless, miserable one,” pro-life activist Lila Rose <a href="https://x.com/lilagracerose/status/2030406697119105132?s=43">observed</a>. “You have a soul. You need love.”
“Motherhood has its rough parts, but this seems to be a consequence of our obsession with self-actualization not taking into account that some worthwhile things are hard, and that roles of service are often more meaningful long-term than those activities that provide instant gratification,” Daily Wire contributor Emily Zanotti wrote. “Motherhood—physical, spiritual, or otherwise—is just a *good and natural thing.* It’s not always fun, or fulfilling, or even interesting. But it doesn’t need to be those things *all the time* to be the best thing you will do in your life.”
“There is only one thing that will make you chronically miserable as a parent and that thing is selfishness,” Daily Wire host Matt Walsh <a href="https://x.com/mattwalshblog/status/2030668649569140807?s=43">wrote</a>. “Immense joys are available to parents—a unique kind of happiness that non-parents cannot experience—but those joys do require you to pull your head out of your own ass for long enough to experience them. If you can’t, or refuse to, then yeah you’ll be miserable all the time. But the good news (if you want to call it that) is that selfish people are miserable no matter what they do, whether they have kids or not, so there’s still no need to feel regret.”
Children are needy when they’re little. Then they become self-sufficient and later they become helpful. The precious baby you’re wishing wasn’t here so you could have uninterrupted Sudoku afternoons could become your best brunch companion in a couple decades—or sooner. The little boy climbing furniture and throwing tantrums will be helping clean your gutters in a blink. In Bryan Caplan&#8217;s 2011 book &#8220;Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Why Being a Great Parent is Less Work and More Fun Than You Think,&#8221; the economist asks parents take such a long-term approach: consider how many kids you&#8217;ll want to have had when you&#8217;re 60.
Regretting or questioning having kids, like <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/since-when-is-cheating-a-lifestyle-the-nyt-dubs-polyamory-a-love-story">polyamory</a>, has become the latest norm-bucking trend. But like anything in life, parenthood doesn’t always, or even usually, offer instant gratification. Raising children is just part of the story. It’s a mistake to close the book before you’ve reached the good part.
***
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

GettyImages-148277919 (1)

The Viral ‘I Regret My Kids’ Trend Is Getting One Big Thing Wrong

Children

family

Media

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.
***
I’ve spent my entire life watching people’s eyes widen when they discover I have 10 siblings.
“Any twins?” they always ask.
&#8220;Nope.&#8221;
“All from the same parents?” they wonder.
“Yes!” I tell them.
“It must be loud around there,” they laugh.
It&#8217;s louder than you think. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
So you can imagine my amusement when I stumble upon very-online big family debaters clutching their pearls over influencer Hannah Neelman — better known as Ballerina Farm — and her nine children.
Some argue that big families just aren&#8217;t for everyone. Others, like pro-abortion playwright Rebecca Reid, suggest parents of large families cannot give their children adequate “time, attention, and connection.”
Very few people, if any, are telling young women that they must have big families. We do hear constant warnings about how unfathomably hard and expensive children are and how children limit your freedom, your fun, and your time with your spouse. On the flip side, we also hear constant chatter about how women can balance career and family if they truly want to. Are we not allowed to hear about the women, like my mother, who defied the world and raised a clan at home?
As the oldest daughter and second-oldest child in a very large family, I can tell you firsthand that big families are not universally wealthy, and parents of such broods certainly aren’t calculating how much each child costs before they make the decision to have one more. These mothers and fathers look at life and family differently.
When you ask them how many children they are going to have, they’ll probably tell you with a big smile, “As many as God sends us.” And if you question how on Earth they plan to pull this off, they will probably say something to the effect of what my own mother told me: “God gives you the grace, one child and one day at a time.”
Families like mine don’t have a dozen children to “own the libs” or populate an aesthetic Instagram page. They’re open to life and to as many children as God blesses them with based on their deeply held religious convictions. They view each child as a gift from God, and they trust that He will provide for them.
I’m well aware that this reasoning sounds crazy to secular outsiders. But at the end of the day, does it matter? God has, in fact, provided for us, and my siblings and parents are the greatest blessings of my life.
<div id="attachment_1055369" style="width: 778px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1055369" class="size-large wp-image-1055369" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/IMG_7618-2-768x576.jpeg" alt="" width="768" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/IMG_7618-2-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/IMG_7618-2-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/IMG_7618-2-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/IMG_7618-2-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" />The author and a smattering of siblings.</div>
I could never imagine life without my six brothers: Tommy, Patrick, Michael, Barry, Daniel, and Seamus. I certainly can’t picture a world without my sisters: Catherine, Theresa, Janey, and Brigid. While we may all look alike, thanks to some good Irish genes, each one of us was uniquely created and brings a diverse array of talents, interests, virtues, and vices to the table. It has been my parents’ role to sort through all of that and to raise us to be the men and women we were created to be.
A large family necessitates a different kind of lifestyle than a smaller family might have, of course: My parents didn’t take our growing family on exotic vacations, and when I was a child, we had PB&amp;J lunches and spaghetti dinners probably more often than my father and mother would have liked. There isn’t as much room in the budget for going out to eat after sports practice or daytime kid activities. The other big families I have known throughout the course of my life are largely the same.
I have never wished for anything different. When I think about my childhood, I don’t really even remember the PB&amp;Js, except maybe the 11 I made for an infamous road trip. (The siblings still accuse me of sitting on them. I maintain my innocence.)
<div id="attachment_1055393" style="width: 877px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1055393" class="size-large wp-image-1055393" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/image1-867x576.png" alt="" width="867" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/image1-867x576.png 867w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/image1-300x199.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/image1-768x510.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/image1.png 1253w" sizes=" (max-width: 867px) 100vw, 867px" />The author giving piggybacks.</div>
What I do remember is eagerly waiting by the phone with my grandmother and the other kids as my parents called from the hospital to tell us that our ninth child would be a boy (Daniel, who now towers over me at 6&#8217;3&#8243; and texts me after my TV hits to say, “Well done, Marg”). Believe it or not, I cried that day because I wanted a girl. I got her when my mother had our 10th baby, Brigid, my goddaughter and close friend.
I remember sitting at the kitchen table with all the siblings, a toddler on my lap as always, as we begged my dad for stories about his childhood in Massachusetts, or standing, at his request, on the brick hearth of our fireplace with my sisters to sing Irish ballads to company.
I think of our cozy school days all working away in our makeshift classroom, my mom waking us up early to go to daily Mass, hours and hours of sister doll games, swinging the baby to sleep on the play set, and the fun we had teaching the little ones to walk, play games, and propose like Mr. Darcy (jury’s out on that one, but we tried).
In functioning big families, kids necessarily help out with chores, with babies, and with each other. We each had our designated chores every day, and we did them with gusto. To this day, we help each other review resumes, emails, job applications, middle school papers, you name it.
Eleven kids means 55 unique relationships between the siblings, and in big families, those relationships hold so many possibilities: the friend, the mentor, the confidante, the babysitter, the tutor, the partner in crime. As we grow older and start families of our own, those relationships necessarily evolve.
The constant in our lives remains the same: We are the Olohan family, and we will always be there for one another.
Of course, the life of a big family is not without its crosses. I grew up with a number of large families, including my own, who have dealt with hardship and tragedy. We know that nothing worth having is easily come by, and for my part, I know I’m very lucky to have been given the parents God gave me. As I’m sure my readers are well aware, every family is the product of the caliber of its parents, and mine are made of good stuff.
Being open to the children God sends you is absolutely a leap of faith. It’s a leap of faith that my parents took and the parents of most big families take. It&#8217;s a surrendering of your will, time and time again, and it&#8217;s a beautiful sacrifice with a beautiful reward. As my grandmother, the mother of 10, would tell us, “Love multiplies; it never divides.”
That is why failing to include God in the conversation about big families doesn&#8217;t make any sense. He’s woven into every step of the way.
***
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Father carrying baby son while pulling four children in a wagon

I’m One Of 11 Kids. Here’s Why The Internet Doesn’t Realize Big Families Are Great.

Parenting

Religion

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.
***
In the first two months of 2026, there were <a href="https://x.com/GunDeaths/status/2026794212671332570">more than 50</a> mass shootings in the U.S., many in schools and churches. Assassination attempts on public figures have swelled. We see constant talk about syndromes such as &#8220;gender dysphoria&#8221; that were once almost unknown. At elite institutions such as Stanford University, four out of 10 students now <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/01/elite-university-student-accommodation/684946/">claim</a> they have a disability. These occurrences illustrate a troubling paradox.
Americans today are wealthier than ever before. We&#8217;ve jumped ahead of Europeans and other developed nations in national economic growth and household income. Our technology has dramatically improved. Our houses are much more comfortable. Our medical care and diets are richer. Yet all around us, especially among the young, we see record levels of depression and loneliness, addiction, crime, educational failure, economic disappointment, and community decline.
There is a root to these social and psychological maladies: the explosion of out-of-wedlock births, divorce, single-parenting, father flight, careerism, and child neglect that began in the 1960s. More than half of all young Americans now live separated from one or both of their parents for at least part of their childhood. Millions of kids from all income levels, races, and localities bear scars from family instability.
Youth suicide jumped 62% from 2007 to 2021. Drug-overdose deaths among young people were nearly twice as high in 2022 as 10 years earlier. In 2023, 4,450 kids were killed by guns, most of them by other youths. Family breakdown now drives many of our collective social problems: poverty, homelessness, street crime, drug abuse, educational failure, and economic lags.
These heartaches and these social problems will not go away until we manage to knit mothers and fathers and children more tightly together in natural families (biological parents committed to each other and their children). Such families are not perfect, but as a source of human happiness and success, they greatly surpass single-parent families, step-families, scientifically designed group homes, hired care, and every other alternative that has been tried.
You see, we Homo sapiens have a serious biological problem called childhood. As Harvard scientist Stephen Jay Gould pointed out, &#8220;Human babies are born as embryos, and embryos they remain for about the first nine months of life.&#8221; If humans were born at the stage of development more typical of other mammals, a baby would remain in utero for up to a year longer than the nine months it already does. The reason we are born &#8220;premature&#8221; instead is elemental: Very few female pelvises could expel a neonate the size of a one-year-old infant. Human labor is already quite difficult compared to that of other animals, and newborns are only 40% the size of the average one-year-old.
Premature birth solves a human physiological dilemma, but it creates a cultural one. Monkey infants can navigate independently and find and cling to their mother when they need her. Newborn horses can run from danger just a few hours after birth. Other animals can hunt, dig, swim, or fly within days of their arrival into the world. But human young remain utterly helpless for an extended period, unable even to control their own temperature, see clearly, grasp, or roll over. Even the healthiest of babies thus requires intensive care and supervision.
And the incapability of humans extends far beyond infancy. It is a long time before we are finally able to survive on our own. Most mammals are autonomous and essentially full-grown within a single season, but it takes our brains about 15 annual cycles to reach their final capacity, and our bodies even a little longer. We are far slower to develop to independent maturity than any other living creature.
This problem is made even knottier by the fact that human culture is so complex that no individual can begin to be a competent citizen until he or she has undergone years and years worth of intensive acculturation. We must absorb millions of bits of information from our progenitors — on everything from desirable foods to language — before we can safely navigate our world.
The combined result of our premature launch and our heavy dependence upon cultural transmission is an extraordinarily long and demanding childhood. Absent a critical cultural adaptation, human beings could never have thrived in the face of this constraint. But they did fashion an adaptation, and a brilliant one: the family. The traditional family was a way of capturing the energy of the male parent as well as the female and channeling it into the rearing of the young.
In this way, mothers gained an ally to help them through their vulnerable periods of pregnancy and lactation. Frail youngsters won the benefit of not one but two protectors, producers, and caretakers. And under this joint nurturing structure, reproductive success soared. Even prior to the advent of the civilized era, one out of every two human babies survived to adulthood, thanks to the aid of their families. This compares to between 10 and 30% for other primates and group-hunting carnivores, which lack any counterpart to the nuclear family. And parent-guided humans turned out to be unusually competent creatures, bearers of a rich culture.
By stitching fathers to mothers and mothers to fathers, and weaving both to their children in a mission of mutual aid, the traditional family allowed humans to transcend brutish self-interest and produce higher civilization in its full splendor.
The evidence for this is ample and ancient. In 1978, anthropologist Mary Leakey made a breathtaking discovery in a fossil lava bed in East Africa: the first human footprints, 3.6 million years old. They clearly indicate two creatures walking upright, between four and five feet tall, one larger than the other, apparently a male and a female. They were walking next to each other, perhaps holding hands, Leakey thinks. There is also a third set of prints, much smaller, belonging to a child. These are carefully placed within the larger prints — as a youngster playfully following his parents through soft ground would do. Leakey&#8217;s find disputes the claim that the traditional family was invented in Victorian Europe, or some other moment, and forced on humanity by narrow-minded manipulators.
Over the last generation, heaps of research findings have proven the irreplaceable benefits of the natural family, particularly when it comes to raising healthy children. I recently collected some of this evidence in a book, and it demonstrates clearly that where the traditional family is in trouble, there will be trouble all across society. This is no longer scientifically controversial. It is merely inconvenient for ideologues promoting the kind of radical individualism, sexual autonomy, and economic selfishness that are incompatible with loyal family life.
As I summarize in my book, biology, human history, recent psychological discoveries, and much more demonstrate that the traditional family is a natural and irreplaceable component of human society. It will be with us so long as our civilization flourishes. And if natural families continue to crumble, no amount of money, technology, personal liberation, artificial intelligence, or wishful thinking will be able to fend off the chaos that results when wounded youngsters grow into our next generation of citizens.
***
Karl Zinsmeister is author of the new book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Family-will-never-obsolete/dp/B0GQBD7JV3">&#8220;The Natural Family Will Never Be Obsolete.&#8221;</a> He has written 20 other books and served in the White House and U.S. Senate as a policy adviser.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

GettyImages-1345161790

America’s Kids Are In Crisis — One Cultural Shift May Explain Why

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.
***
I have an MBA from the University of Florida but struggle with basic algebra. I have traveled to 36 states but can only confidently name the capitals of 12. I can name all nine Supreme Court justices but don’t know how desert plants adapted to conserve water. Apparently, it’s not because they “try really hard.” Fifth-grade homework sucks.
But here I am on most nights slapping down the assignment in front of one of my kids, puffing my chest out and saying, “Let’s knock this out!” Three minutes later, I’m googling the capital of Wyoming and reevaluating my life.
Homework creates as much frustration for my children as it does for me. We share equally in the struggle to get through it. It’s certainly not where I’d think we were forging our bond. It’s natural to think rules create resentment, but it turns out that homework may be building our relationship, not harming it. Hard parenting has positive consequences. 
Research from the Institute of Family Studies <a href="https://ifstudies.org/blog/hard-parenting-better-relationships-new-evidence">discovered</a> that “parental-enforced rules are mostly associated with better relationships with kids, both in the parent’s own assessment of their relationship, and the assessments of the subsample of teenage children surveyed.” 
The study looked at factors such as strict curfew, strict bedtime, screen time limits, dedicated homework time, and others. It found that “virtually every parental-enforced rule … is linked to better parent-child relationships.” 
As a dad who struggles with the “friend-parenting” model, this research is so revealing. All we want is for our kids to love us, and I do seriously consider my kids to be my friends. But it is my responsibility to forge that friendship in an appropriate way that breeds a healthy, long-term relationship.
I’ll admit that this research seemed counterintuitive to me. While I am hard on my kids, there is still an instinct to go “gentle” on so many things and avoid conflict. That’s usually the path of least resistance. I also sometimes fear that discipline will create emotional distance. But ultimately, the key to any healthy relationship is communication. And rules require interaction, which is the foundation of communication. 
Once I stepped back, it became obvious to me. Rules create necessary dialogue. When my daughter and I sit down to do homework, it is natural to discuss her day at school. When my wife and I tell the boys they’ve watched enough Dude Perfect for one day, it leads to conversations about content. Taking out the trash leads to conversations about teamwork and contribution. Bedtime leads to conversations about making healthy choices.
Permissiveness allows distance, but a parent who enforces rules must constantly be checking in, following up, correcting, and explaining. Trust is forged in that communication, and trust leads to healthy relationships. 
Since we&#8217;re a Florida family of six, a boating analogy is natural. Parenting is a lot like steering a boat. The longer the trip, the more important small corrections turn out to be and the more consequential even the tiniest veering off course becomes. Small adjustments early prevent huge corrections later. Unfortunately, parenting doesn’t come with an autopilot option, and disciplinary nudges are required to maintain the route to arrive at the desired destination.
A boater’s worst nightmare is a storm, and chaos is the storm inside our homes. If you think “enforcement” is hard, try chaos. Building relationships requires order. Rules repeated daily become habits, and habits bring order in the house. Order is the solution to chaos.
With four kids of my own, I can compare the amount of friction in each of our relationships. Over time, rules become habits and habits reduce the friction of rule-enforcement. As my kids age, we have fewer arguments and less friction around the rules. While chaos exhausts our relationship, order protects it. 
Finally, trust and freedom play important roles in this equation. Trust is the glue that holds relationships together. Through years of rule enforcement, I am training our kids to be reliable. Reliability builds trust, and trust earns freedom. Eventually, our kids are freed from us, and if we have built enough equity in the relationship, they will use that freedom to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/why-so-many-grown-kids-are-cutting-off-their-fathers">invest</a> that equity back into our relationship.
Ultimately, the homework will only get harder — for me. The algorithms will get more competitive. And the trash will always come on Tuesday and Friday. But maybe these are all blessings. In them, this dad holds the secret. 
I’ll close with one admission. There is one thing we don’t limit in our house: country music. It is our love language. While I was driving home from the office recently, George Strait’s hit “Love Without End, Amen” came on. As King George belted out, “Let me tell you a secret about a father’s love,” I knew I had it.
* * *
Gates Garcia is the host of the YouTube show and podcast “We The People.” Follow him on Instagram and X @GatesGarciaFL.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Father and daughter crafting a special Mother’s Day card in the cozy kitchen

The Parenting Secret That Might Surprise ‘Gentle Parents’

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
“We’re sending him to a recovery center in Bali this summer to kick his phone habit,” an exasperated mother informed me of her teenage son. I was an easy target, waiting in an empty booth for my to-go burger and fries, trying to be “in the moment” without faceplanting into Instagram. She showed me her lock screen: “Here’s a photo of him in ‘The Hot Chocolate Nutcracker’ with <a href="https://people.com/blue-ivy-carters-greatest-accomplishments-beyonce-jay-z-daughter-11880522">Blue Ivy.</a>” Intrigued by her oversharing and financial resources, I took a long sip from my wine-in-a-can and braced myself for the long haul; she clearly had more than a half-eaten order of onion rings on her plate. “He’s been kicking his dad,” she said.
I casually ordered another overpriced pinot grigio and sympathetically touched her elbow. “Like, while he’s looking at his phone?” 
As real-life proof of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563223003394#:~:text=The%20findings%20reveal%20that%20depression,which%20subsequently%20influences%20internalized%20aggression.">studies</a> linking smartphone addiction to aggression, this kid had completely stopped talking to his parents and had seemingly resorted to kung fu. No nearby Los Angeles-based rehab centers could snap him out of the funk, so after throwing roughly $150,000 at the problem, this mother’s only hope was to send her kid to a place 8,600 miles away from his iPhone. She hoped Indonesian fruit and flora, and perhaps a restorative bungalow over crystal blue water, could sever the electromagnetic lifeline between her sweet son’s brain and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@aibaddie23/video/7590506286890962196?lang=en">AI baddies jet-skiing with gorillas</a> on TikTok. Or whatever he was watching.
He’s not the only one. Teens self-report using social media “<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/12/09/teens-social-media-and-ai-chatbots-2025/">almost constantly</a>.” Gen Z hits up <a href="https://targetinternet.com/resources/how-different-age-groups-are-using-social-media-2024/#:~:text=Instagram%2C%20TikTok%2C%20Snapchat-,Behavioural%20trends,platforms%20like%20TikTok%20and%20Instagram.">TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat</a> as trusted sources of information, while Gen Alpha is into <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kids-dont-need-more-online-monitoring-they-need-involved-dads">Roblox</a>, YouTube, WhatsApp, TikTok, and Snapchat. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/six-seven#:~:text=interjection,that%20it%20makes%20no%20sense.%E2%80%9D">Six-seven</a>, <a href="https://we-are-family.com/uk/blog-insights/rizz-suss-and-bussin-a-guide-to-gen-alphas-freshest-slang/">no cap</a>. Even though TikTok theoretically limits users to <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/safety/en/guardians-guide">no younger than</a> 13 years old, <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/media-use-and-attitudes/online-habits/living-our-lives-online">five-year-old</a> “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60854885">TikTots</a>” open so many accounts that they have a cute nickname.
Cautionary messaging about the negative blah blah of social media feels like a broken record, a constant drone about <a href="https://www.kidsmentalhealthfoundation.org/mental-health-resources/technology-and-social-media/social-media-and-kids">stunted brain development</a>, depression, cyberbullying, catfishing, and anxiety. But, whatever, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo9EbArcQ1c">Mr. Beast</a> vaccinated a herd of wild giraffes with a life-saving sniper rifle from a helicopter! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GNyw4uaAqU">Subscribe to win an iPhone</a>, smash that freakin’ bell, and shoot it into our veins! Sure, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/12/12/teens-social-media-and-technology-2024/#:~:text=and%20household%20income.-,By%20gender,87%25).">girls jump on Instagram and TikTok</a> more than boys, and the reverse is true over on YouTube, which attracts <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/teens-and-social-media-fact-sheet/">90% of teens</a>, but no one’s getting out of this scot-free. Overall, kids spend an average of <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/youth-mental-health/social-media/index.html#:~:text=The%20types%20of%20use%20and,Bickham%20et%20al.%2C%202022.">3.5 hours a day</a> on their platforms of choice (and almost half of them claim they feel worse after doing it, despite the spin on healthy “<a href="https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/newsroom/articles/kids-social-media-mental-health#:~:text=How%20can%20social%20media%20be,or%20other%20forms%20of%20media.">connection</a>”). 
So what exactly are kids watching? On the top platform <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/teens-and-social-media-fact-sheet/">YouTube</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mr+beast">Mr. Beast</a> serves over 460 million subscribers with flashy, cashy stunts; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRijo3ddMTht_IHyNSNXpNQ">Dude Perfect</a> brings the buddy sports; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@alishamarievlogs">AishaMarieVlogs</a> dishes lifestyle behind the scenes; and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7_YxT-KID8kRbqZo7MyscQ">Markiplier</a> built 38.4 million subs by getting really into gaming. Over on the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/teens-and-social-media-fact-sheet/">second most-favorited TikTok</a>, <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@charlidamelio?lang=en">Charli D’Amelio</a> rocks the choreography for 156 million followers, <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@khaby.lame">Khaby Lame</a> posts 2.6 billion likes worth of comedy gold, and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@bellapoarch?lang=en">Bella Poarch</a> dazzles 93 million followers with lip syncs. And as the bronze medalist in the popularity contest, Instagram hangs on with <a href="https://www.instagram.com/nianaguerrero/?hl=en">Niana Guerro</a>’s dance moves for 16 million fans and the curated lifestyles of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/laurenorlando88/">Lauren Orlando</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/julesleblanc/">Jules Leblanc</a>. 
While the digital apple of any teen’s eye can change in an instant, the gentle art of <a href="https://www.apa.org/topics/social-media-internet/youth-social-media-2024">mind control</a> lands the knockout punch. Going beyond the <a href="https://www.apa.org/news/apa/2022/social-media-children-teens">dope show</a> of the infinite scroll, mind-meltingly effective marketing does the real dirty work. A silly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne_cdGwUns8">M&amp;M’s bit on Ryan’s World</a> does more than teach colors using “yummy candy.” Kids are shown <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11010392/#:~:text=Frequency%20of%20promoted%20food%20products,SMI%20in%20Supplementary%20Table%204).">at least one ad</a> by fast food, soda, or other processed food for every post, drummed up by marketers set on funneling colorful, cartoony, music-backed <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/blog/what-are-kids-watching-online-how-digital-food-marketing-shapes-childrens-and-adolescents-diets/">content</a> directly to children.
Some kids consume more than <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12487379/#:~:text=Food%20advertising%20has%20played%20a,14%2C%2017%2C%2018%5D.">4,000 food ads</a> per year on social media. Even if you stock a MAHA kitchen full of <a href="https://realfood.gov/">real food</a>, little Leo’s still getting a daily dose of digital junk. Maybe the rise in <a href="https://abcnews.com/Health/us-child-teen-obesity-rates-reach-record-high/story?id=130441952">childhood obesity</a> has nothing to do with a surge in <a href="https://cdn.nutrition.org/article/S2475-2991(25)00004-6/fulltext">food marketing on YouTube</a> leading to children&#8217;s <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12182458/">poor eating habits </a>off-screen, but it sure isn&#8217;t helping.
Happy to cash in on comparison culture, retailers turn social media into an infinite shopping mall. Considered by some to be “<a href="https://www.mikmak.com/blog/gen-alpha-marketing-trends-toy-game#:~:text=Retailer%20Insights:%20Where%20to%20Win%20*%20TikTok,Commerce%2C%20are%20turning%20engagement%20into%20measurable%20ROI.">43 million young consumers</a>,” Gen Alpha became a cash cow for national brands, with 84% begging their parents to buy something they saw online. For anyone keeping score, in 2025, teens were shelling out for <a href="https://www.pipersandler.com/teens">Nike, On Running, e.l.f. Cosmetics, Ulta, and Sephora</a>. They had to be at least <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/108398">13 years old to use Apple Pay</a>, even though no one younger than <a href="https://www.capitalone.com/learn-grow/money-management/how-old-to-apply-for-credit-card/">18 can get a credit card</a>, but what’s math when it’s your parents’ money?
Considering kids can also navigate age restrictions using the age-old technique of plugging in a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4v52ezx17o">fake birthday</a>, there’s a clear danger in underage users exploring the <a href="https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/media-and-children/center-of-excellence-on-social-media-and-youth-mental-health/qa-portal/qa-portal-library/qa-portal-library-questions/talking-to-your-child-about-online-pornography-exposure/#:~:text=Answer%3A%20Unintentional%20exposure%20to%20pornographic,online%20in%20the%20last%20year.">darkest corners of social media</a>. With nearly <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12515835/#:~:text=Nationally%20representative%20surveys%20of%20adolescents,for%20sexual%20activities%20(17).">70% of teens</a> reporting they’ve seen explicit sexual content online, and 75% of parents claiming their kids have not, <a href="https://www.humanium.org/en/the-intrusion-of-media-sexualization-in-childhood/#:~:text=Children%20today%20are%20inundated%20with,to%20social%20media%20and%20advertisements.">sexualized marketing</a> sneaks under the radar, vaulting children into <a href="https://www.childrenandscreens.org/learn-explore/research/sexual-media-and-childhood-well-being-and-health/#:~:text=Exposure%20to%20such%20content%20is,sexually%20transmitted%20infection%20among%20adolescents.">decidedly adult behavior</a> in real life. Consumption of violent social media content only <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10177625/">compounds aggressive actions in teens</a>. And you can thank Instagram&#8217;s algorithm for working around its own <a href="https://help.instagram.com/1695974997209192">ban on illicit drugs</a> to autofill searches by teens for <a href="https://www.techtransparencyproject.org/articles/xanax-ecstasy-and-opioids-instagram-offers-drug-pipeline-kids">ecstasy, Xanax, and opioids</a>. Can’t use “<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/teens-instagram-drug-dealers-in-2-clicks-researchers-say-2021-12#:~:text=%22When%20the%20minor%20clicked%20on,services%2C%22%20the%20researchers%20said.">#MDMA</a>” or “#buyfentanyl”? Don’t let us stop you, kids. Love, Instagram. 
So do we just have to let <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@msrachelforlittles">Ms. Rachel</a> and her overalls wash us all out to A-B-sea? While there may be no turning back to non-addictive <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-old-school-gadget-making-a-quiet-comeback-in-american-homes">landlines</a> with coiled cords and rotary dials, there’s a tiny glimmer of hope. Depending on <a href="https://childmind.org/article/when-are-kids-ready-for-social-media/">maturity</a>, holding off on letting kids use social media <a href="https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/media-and-children/center-of-excellence-on-social-media-and-youth-mental-health/qa-portal/qa-portal-library/qa-portal-library-questions/age-to-introduce-social-media/#:~:text=Strong%20parental%20relationships%20matter,about%20starting%20social%20media%20accounts!">until they’re at least 13</a> can help. Of course, while teens are <a href="https://www.research-archive.org/index.php/rars/preprint/view/1507#:~:text=Abstract,groups%20perceived%20certain%20marketing%20techniques.">more vulnerable to the social media marketing </a>complex, adults are susceptible, too. (Just scroll through my purchase history on TikTok Shop as evidence.)
Better yet, you can model the responsible behavior you want to see in your kids by <a href="https://childmind.org/article/how-using-social-media-affects-teenagers/">limiting your own phone</a> usage as you monitor theirs. Plus, as <a href="https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/ai-is-taking-over-our-social-media-feeds-but-maybe-not-how-you-expect/">AI continues to devour social media</a>, maybe we could all use a little phone-free <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/being-human-is-cool-again">human interaction</a> … in Bali or by your nearest backyard sprinkler.
***
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Getty

What’s Quietly Shaping Kids While Parents Aren’t Watching

Social Media

We are now witnessing a massive cultural retreat from the most controversial elements of activist-driven gender ideology aimed at children. And corporate America is a major part of that shift.
For years, the gender ideology narrative captured our society’s most prominent institutions. The notion that the provision of hormone regimens, puberty blockers, and gender transition surgeries was the only compassionate response to young people facing confusion about their gender morphed from a fringe theory into a near-unquestionable dictate during the last decade. In 2019, a doctor who believed in the Biblical and scientific notion of differences between the sexes was<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-49904997"> told</a> that his views were “incompatible with human dignity.” Parents of children struggling with gender dysphoria were often <a href="https://www.centerforbiblicalunity.com/post/would-you-rather-have-a-dead-daughter-or-a-live-son">presented</a> with a ghoulish, faux-paternalistic ultimatum by therapists and psychologists: “Would you rather have a dead daughter or a live son?”
Perhaps the most impactful driver of this narrative was the boardroom. The dictates of gender ideology were not only pushed forward by activists but also supported by some of the most recognizable brands on Earth. One of the most high-profile examples was Amazon: scholar Ryan T. Anderson, whose 2018 book When Harry Became Sally offered a thoughtful Christian response to gender ideology, had to fight through a <a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-statement-on-when-harry-became-sally">book ban</a> and <a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-statement-on-when-harry-became-sally">smears</a> of “hate speech,” before it could be sold in the world’s largest online market. Countless companies, from Apple to Target, were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-left-wing-activists-are-trying-to-save-corporate-wokeness">participating</a> with corporate activist organizations like the Human Rights Campaign, one of the major promoters of gender ideology in corporate America.
In the 2010s and early 2020s, it was perfectly reasonable to believe that the way major companies handled gender ideology was less about science and more about <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/corporations-that-pushed-gender-ideology-owe-america-an-explanation?author=Isaac+Willour&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=8&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Corporations+That+Pushed+Gender+Ideology+Owe+America+An+Explanation">placating</a> goalpost-shifting activists. And then, as so often happens with activist movements, the goalposts got shifted too far. It wasn’t just adult choice that was the focus of gender ideology. It was about the attempted normalization of surgical interventions for children. That was when the momentum shifted.
Three recent occurrences illustrate just how quickly the tide is turning.
First, a 22-year-old ‘detransitioner’ — someone who regrets their gender transition — just <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-court-case-has-gotten-little-attention-but-just-changed-everything">won</a> a $2 million lawsuit against the New York doctors who approved her surgery. Fox Varian, who had a double mastectomy (surgical removal of both breasts) when she was just 16 years old, is the first detransitioner to take a medical malpractice case to trial and win.
That ruling came on January 30. On February 3, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons <a href="https://www.plasticsurgery.org/for-medical-professionals/health-policy/position-statements">released</a> a statement asserting that “there is insufficient evidence demonstrating a favorable risk-benefit ratio for … gender-related endocrine and surgical interventions in children and adolescents.” 
Days later, the American Medical Association <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/health/gender-surgery-minors-ama.html">announced</a> its agreement: “The AMA agrees… surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood.”
Let’s be clear about what that means: in the span of approximately a week, two absolutely critical points have been proven about gender ideology: (1) performing gender transition surgeries on children is a source of major legal liability, and (2) the medical consensus does not neatly support the necessity of such treatments.
These are precisely the arguments we have made to companies for years about their healthcare coverage. For companies that spent the early 2020s placating activists pushing gender ideology, the mid 2020s may be a painful reckoning with how out-of-touch with reality those activists truly were.
Activist groups like the Human Rights Campaign <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-radical-intolerance-behind-woke-corporate-activism?author=Isaac+Willour&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=11&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+Radical+Intolerance+Behind+Woke+Corporate+Activism">told</a> companies that covering hormone regimens and transition care were prudent ways to minimize risk. It’s incredibly apparent that this was a wild guess at best, and a cleverly worded activist ploy at worst. As the era of corporate wokeness comes to an end, companies seeking to stay politically neutral and avoid becoming entrenched in culture war issues (remember, companies have a fiduciary duty to do this) are taking a serious look at their healthcare coverage.
For companies that cover gender transition care for adults, do they also cover detransition care? If not, that hardly reads as politically neutral. Do companies have clear stances on not covering gender transition care for children? These are the questions that we, as corporate engagement professionals, are asking hundreds of companies.
Some companies are setting the standard. Walmart, the world’s largest company, <a href="https://me.walmart.com/content/dam/themepage/pdfs/AssociateBenefitsBook-2026.pdf">publishes</a> its full Associate Benefits Guide, which includes a clear carve-out prohibiting health plan administrators from providing transgender medical interventions to minors. The company has also been incredibly constructive in engaging with its shareholders on this issue. Other companies should follow Walmart’s example. You’d be amazed by how many haven’t. But the winds are blowing in our favor.
One major example of the large-scale retreat is the widespread drop in support for the Human Rights Campaign, whose ‘Corporate Equality Index’ grades companies in part by their adherence to activist criteria surrounding hormone regimens, transition surgery, and the like. In 2025, almost 380 Fortune 500 companies participated in the Index. In 2026? Fewer than 150. Many of the major names that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-radical-intolerance-behind-woke-corporate-activism?author=Isaac+Willour&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=11&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+Radical+Intolerance+Behind+Woke+Corporate+Activism">ceased participation</a>, including Capital One, Goldman Sachs, and Google (Alphabet), are companies we’ve engaged with surrounding these issues.
If these signs are any indication, there’s much more to come. As the consequences of such treatments become more widely understood, by major companies, providers, and especially insurers, we may well see the forming of a new consensus, the one that always should have been: the dictates of gender ideology, that promoted and supported major and often irreversible medical interventions for children, are being rejected by the brands that make up our capital markets. For the sake of America’s children, that rejection can’t come fast enough.
* * *
Isaac Willour is an award-winning journalist focusing on race, culture, and American conservatism, as well as a corporate relations analyst at Bowyer Research. His work has been featured at outlets including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Opinion, C-SPAN, and The Daily Wire. He is a member of the Young Voices contributor program and can be found on X <a href="https://twitter.com/IsaacWillour" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@IsaacWillour</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Wall Street Sign

Corporate America Quietly Backs Away From Gender Ideology For Children

American Medical Association

Business

Corporations

gender ideology

Teenagers

transgender surgery

Disney is preparing to fundamentally reshape the streaming landscape. After taking full ownership of Hulu in 2023, the company is now moving to shut the platform down and fold its entire library into Disney+ as part of a “one app experience.” That migration could occur imminently, and the scale of change is staggering.
When Disney launched Disney+ in 2019, the streaming marketplace was already crowded. Amazon Prime Video debuted in 2006, Netflix in 2007, and Hulu in 2008. With few external restrictions on content — no oversight from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and no advertisers, at that time, to hold content in check. As a result, these platforms broke boundaries that even premium cable channels like HBO and Cinemax would not have dared. offering more vulgarity, more graphic violence, more sex and nudity.
Disney+ promised to be different. 
From the beginning, Disney positioned its platform as a safe haven for families; a platform parents could trust implicitly. That promise worked. More than 10 million subscribers signed up within the first 24 hours, many of them parents desperate to escape the exhausting and never-ending task of shielding young eyes from suggestive poster art and racy titles like “Zac and Miri Make a Porno” or “Nymphomaniac” while they searched menus for the handful of child-appropriate titles that might be available. 
Market research confirmed this distinction. One industry analysis <a href="https://morningconsult.com/articles/disney-plus-streaming-market-brand-data">called</a> Disney+ “the category’s most intentionally chosen service.” Morning Consult found Disney+ scored +45 for “entertaining the kids,” while competitors posted negative scores across the board. “Disney+ is not interchangeable here,” the analysis concluded. “In household decision-making, this is Disney+’s moat.”
Disney executives publicly reinforced this family-first positioning. Months before launch, entertainment reporter Eric Vespe recalled asking a Disney representative whether R-rated content would appear on Disney+. The answer: Disney+ would remain PG-13 or softer, while more mature material would live on Hulu. Disney invested heavily in Hulu so adult-oriented material could remain off the Disney+ platform.
That intentional separation is now being completely dismantled. 
In the summer of 2025, executives signaled plans to shut down Hulu and migrate its entire library into Disney+.
Concerned Women for America (CWA) <a href="https://concernedwomen.org/2026-cwa-netflix-research/">looked at</a> the numbers and discovered that while Disney+ currently hosts fewer than 20 R-rated films, after the merger, that number will exceed 400 — a more than 2,200% increase. Mature-rated television series will escalate from 45 to nearly 400 — a more than 800% increase. Families who subscribed specifically for child-friendly programming will suddenly find their child’s favorite streaming platform flooded with volumes of adult material.
Parents have already seen glimpses of what this future looks like. Last year, families reported surprise and frustration when mature-themed series promotions appeared on Disney+ home screens, prompting uncomfortable questions from young children. Many parents believed Disney+ was designed to prevent exactly this scenario.
This shift represents more than a technical update. It represents a fundamental brand reversal.
Disney was once synonymous with wholesome family entertainment. Parents built household media habits around that identity. Children were given access to Disney+ because families trusted the brand.
That trust is now being put at risk.
Even more concerning is the creative direction Disney leadership appears eager to embrace. One of the most striking examples is the company’s reported interest in hiring producer Ryan Murphy as soon as his development deal with Netflix ends; Murphy’s career has largely focused on dark, adult-themed dramas. 
Murphy’s previous projects have centered on crime, horror, and provocative themes that were never intended for children. Yet Disney executives appear willing to fold this creative approach into a corporate ecosystem historically built around family audiences.
Walt Disney famously said, “Our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children.” That philosophy guided decades of storytelling built around imagination, optimism, and moral clarity.
Today’s leadership seems increasingly disconnected from that legacy.
And while Disney may point to parental controls as a solution, technology cannot solve a branding problem. The issue is not whether filters exist. The issue is whether adult content belongs on the same platform that parents deliberately chose for preschoolers and elementary-age children.
Mixing Mickey Mouse with mature television may make business sense on a spreadsheet. But it erodes the trust that made Disney+ successful in the first place.
The question now is simple: Will Disney honor the promise that built its streaming success — or abandon the families who made it possible?
The future of Disney+ may depend on how loudly parents answer that question.
* * *
Melissa Henson is the Senior Policy Advisor for Media and Culture for <a href="http://www.concernedwomen.org/">Concerned Women for America</a>, the nation’s public policy women’s organization, dedicated to promoting biblical values and constitutional principles in public policy. On X: @CWforA
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Rear View Of Two Boys Watching Movie Together, Lena, United States

Disney+ Is About To Be Flooded With Adult Content, And Parents Are Right To Be Alarmed

Disney

Entertainment

Family Values

Film

Hulu

Movies

sexual content

Television

Violence

Two years ago, The Daily Wire launched a kids&#8217; programming platform called Bentkey exactly because of people like Ms. Rachel, who has turned her hypnotic videos for preschoolers into a vehicle for leftist propaganda. 
Bentkey has a different idea: entertainment that is actually for kids and doesn&#8217;t feature any soft-peddling of adult themes. You know, cute characters, fun adventures, and stories you don&#8217;t need to worry will have your kids asking you what a &#8220;transgender&#8221; is. It&#8217;s what my kids watch, and you can <a href="https://get.bentkey.com/">check it out here</a>. 
I haven&#8217;t seen anyone lay out the need for alternatives like Bentkey better than the Daily Wire&#8217;s own Matt Walsh, who laid into Ms. Rachel on his show this week. Here&#8217;s what he had to say. —Brent Scher 
***
Ms. Rachel is a YouTuber who makes videos for preschoolers. We’ve covered her before on my podcast. She’s known for teaching children about gay pride, LGBT issues, and pronouns. That alone is reason enough not to put her content on for your kids. You should not allow your children to watch her show for those reasons.
Now she’s out on a propaganda tour with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Here they are visiting a preschool:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This morning, Ms. Rachel and I visited District 2 Pre-K Center, where we sang and read with the wonderful students and educators. We also discussed universal childcare &#8211; and how we&#8217;re making it happen for NYC! <a href="https://t.co/974M24kt64">pic.twitter.com/974M24kt64</a>
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/2009726131386146938?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 9, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @NYCMayor/X.com
“This morning, Ms. Rachel and I visited District 2 Pre-K Center, where we sang and read with the wonderful students and educators. We also discussed universal childcare—and how we’re making it happen for NYC!”
Yes, I’m sure the four-year-olds were riveted by that conversation.
You sat down with four-year-olds to talk about universal child care — which, by the way, is terrible for four-year-olds. It’s the city’s way of getting more kids into government-run child care and away from their parents.
That’s really the message here: “Good news, kids. You’re going to spend even less time with your parents and even more time with government workers. And government workers are the best.”
So here’s the debate over Ms. Rachel: Is she a political propagandist? She’s enormously popular with kids and racks up billions of views. Should you be exposing your children to someone like that, given her political messaging?
The answer is clearly no. You should not expose your kids to a political propagandist.
But set the politics aside for a moment. I want to make a more basic point about Ms. Rachel and people like her. I find most children’s YouTube creators to be creepy. As a parent, you need a radar for that. If your instinct isn’t asking, “Who is this person?” then you’re not paying attention.
Even before you evaluate the content or any political messaging, the vibe matters. And while vibe-based arguments don’t work in politics, they absolutely do in parenting. If something feels weird — if you don’t like the vibe—then that person doesn’t belong around your kids. That alone is reason enough to turn it off.
These adults making content for three- and four-year-olds have figured out that it’s an extremely profitable business. So they just keep churning it out.
They’re slop merchants for toddlers. And they churn out slop for every age bracket. It boggles my mind that there are parents who say, “Yep, here’s what my four-year-old needs—some slop. Bring on the slop. Sit down, Junior. It’s slop time. Go ahead and spend three hours watching this mind-numbing, weird show.”
I don’t get it.
The other thing I can’t stand is when children’s content creators act and dress like children themselves. That’s where the weirdness really kicks in. You have adults in their 40s and 50s speaking and acting like kids. Ms. Rachel appears in overalls, sneakers, and a headband — she’s in her 40s. Why is she dressed like that? She speaks and acts like a kindergartener. And that’s what almost all of these children’s YouTuber types do.
Compare that to Mr. Rogers. He made content for children, but he didn’t present himself as a child. He was a grandfatherly figure. That vibe passes the parent check. It’s wholesome, constructive, and edifying. Children can learn from that.
But when you put on overalls and start speaking in an absurdly over-the-top, childish, patronizing way, kids aren’t learning anything.
I went to Ms. Rachel’s page and pulled up one random video at the top. Nothing political. Nothing overtly objectionable. All I can say is that I would rather be stabbed to death than watch five minutes of her show. I would rather jump out of a hundred-story window than sit through it.
If the next regime comes in and they start arresting people like me, and they give me a choice between solitary confinement with Ms. Rachel playing on a loop or being thrown off a building, I’d say, “Please, the building.”
Don’t sit your kids in front of this slop. If your child is watching content that you can’t tolerate being in the same room with, that’s a good indication they shouldn’t be watching it — not because it’s political, but because it’s vapid, irritating, stupid, and bad for their minds and souls.
There are better alternatives than Ms. Rachel — like reading a book to your child.

TODAY – Season 73

Ms. Rachel Isn’t The Innocent YouTuber You Think She Is

Bentkey

Matt Walsh

YouTube

Zohran Mamdani

A watchdog organization on Wednesday warned parents across the country about the significant dangers of allowing kids unfiltered access to popular online platforms that could expose them to sexual predators or even foreign terrorist groups. 
The American Parents Coalition <a href="https://americanparentscoalition.org/the-lookout-online-radicalization/">issued</a> a “Lookout” to parents, encouraging them to be vigilant about what their children have access to. The Lookout, which is texted to parents across the country, comes ahead of a House Oversight Committee <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/chairman-comer-invites-ceos-of-discord-steam-twitch-and-reddit-to-testify-on-radicalization-of-online-forum-users/">hearing</a> where executives from platforms like Discord and Twitch have been called to testify about the “radicalization of online forum users.”
“Today’s children are growing up in a digital age where online companionship and community are replacing human interaction at children’s expense,” the Lookout said. “Parents may not be aware that seemingly benign and popular gaming platforms like Discord, Steam, Twitch, and Reddit can expose vulnerable children to radicalized views and extreme content with no guardrails.”
American Parents Coalition Executive Director Alleigh Marré told The Daily Wire that it was becoming increasingly important for parents to monitor their kids’ online activity. 
“It has been consistently flagged to parents that we need to be really mindful of our child&#8217;s online presence, where they&#8217;re spending their time, who they&#8217;re engaging with,” she said. “And we&#8217;ve continued to see the stakes of not doing that grow more and more concerning.”
The Lookout highlighted how Discord has come under scrutiny in recent weeks after it was reported that the man suspected of assassinating Charlie Kirk discussed the killing in messages on the platform. It was also <a href="https://x.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/1969108640255685108">revealed</a> that the man who planned to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh mused about whether “removing” justices from the Supreme Court would “help women.” 
Other <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/discord-messages-server-dhs-terror-extremist-charlie-kirk-fbi-patel-rcna232377">reports</a> have said that young people have been exposed to materials from foreign terrorist organizations while on Discord. There are also concerns about children being <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/discord-child-safety-social-platform-challenges-rcna89769">targeted</a> by sexual predators via the platform or <a href="https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/when-teens-question-their-gender-social-media-can-provide-supportand-pressure-11634994000?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAgOtiieTiB_FVWBiVwl5_l-wKlWBfuXwpf-HXN2ECZy6H9-laaesI3J0omGIVk%3D&amp;gaa_ts=68dbf107&amp;gaa_sig=6LYtl3orBg1HfRSiILALhPg-tSA0B_29ehjiJDV9XGlTw-FNrmU8-e84m4-uWgW4xz0qGOZYuyXta1zgBQ5K4w%3D%3D">encouraged</a> to embrace transgender ideology behind their parents’ backs. 
In a statement to The Daily Wire, Discord said that it requires all users to be at least 13 years of age to use the platform. 
“We use a combination of advanced technology and trained safety teams to proactively find and remove content that violates our policies,” a spokesman said. “We maintain strong systems to prevent the spread of sexual exploitation and grooming on our platform and also work with other technology companies and safety organizations to improve online safety across the internet.&#8221; 
The Lookout also pointed to the dangers of kids being exposed to calls for political violence, particularly against conservatives. It highlighted a Reddit <a href="https://x.com/reddit_lies/status/1886487208695308564">thread</a> that was later removed, where users appeared to call for violence against employees of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The thread referred to the DOGE employees as “Muskrat’s DOGE Henchmen.” 
The comments were removed by Reddit’s safety teams within one day of being posted, a Reddit spokesman noted. Over 90% of Reddit users are reportedly over the age of 18, according to external market research. 
Another platform flagged by the American Parents Coalition was Roblox, an online game platform with tens of millions of users under the age of 13. In the aftermath of the Kirk assassination, the platform <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/09/11/charlie-kirk-shooting-roblox-game-removed">removed</a> dozens of game “experiences” after &#8220;seeing violative content around Charlie Kirk,” the company said. There have also <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-roblox-pedophile-problem/">been concerns</a> about predators targeting children on the platform. 
Twitch, a streaming platform, was also noted as a place where children could be exposed to violent political rhetoric and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-twitch-problem-with-child-predators/">sexual predators</a>. Leftist streamer Hasan Piker was suspended by the platform after comments about killing Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott. 
A Twitch spokesman said that the site monitors its channels 24/7 for any youth-safety violations on its platform. 
“We continue to increase our investments in youth safety on Twitch, and have developed a number of product interventions that let viewers customize and build the Twitch experience that is right for them – this includes limiting the visibility of content that may not be appropriate for all audiences,” the spokesman said. 
The Lookout included a list of general practices parents should take to protect their kids online.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-989619" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-22-at-9.58.18-AM.png" alt="" width="1583" height="899" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-22-at-9.58.18-AM.png 1583w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-22-at-9.58.18-AM-300x170.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-22-at-9.58.18-AM-1014x576.png 1014w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-22-at-9.58.18-AM-768x436.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-22-at-9.58.18-AM-1536x872.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1583px) 100vw, 1583px" /></div>
Marré said she thinks these tech companies should have a parental board to advise them on best practices. 
“These are very powerful technologies with extreme reach and they&#8217;re available to anyone,” she said. “There aren&#8217;t a lot of barriers to entry. And so when you have a technology like that, it&#8217;s all the more important to make sure that the people who are most vulnerable are protected, and I don&#8217;t really think anybody does that well.”

Boy using Ai to generate something or help solve work problems.

Discord And Twitch Are Not ‘Benign.’ They Pose Serious Risks To Your Children From Predators, Parents Group Warns

Reddit And Twitch Are Not 'Benign.' They Pose Serious Risks To Your Children. 

Gaming

Political Violence

Technology

Young boy jumping in mid-air

The ‘Experts’ Are Finally Admitting That ADHD Is A Scam

The 'Experts' Are Finally Admitting That ADHD Is A Scam

Boys

Drugs

Middle School

New York Times

Opinion

Love him or hate him, we can’t ignore that when it comes to parenting, Donald Trump seems to be a pretty good father. The proof is evident in the behavior of his kids. Certainly, kids who have an ax to grind don’t act like his kids do.
First, adult sons and daughters who harbor deep anger toward a parent never speak highly of him or her, regardless of how famous they are. In fact, fame can be an ideal opportunity for angry kids to humiliate their parents. Trump’s older kids, Eric, Ivanka, and Donald Jr. don’t behave this way. In fact, they have no reason to publicly support their father so enthusiastically other than the belief that their father is a good and capable man. Sure, they may want to applaud him to further their own careers, but they don’t need to do this. They are each highly successful on their own. If they had lukewarm sentiments about their dad, they would at least fade into the background. But they haven’t. They have taken advantage of large public platforms to convince us that he has strong character and extraordinarily strong abilities to improve America. They wouldn’t do this if they believed that his intentions were other than altruistic. The fact that they have successfully convinced millions of Americans that he has what it takes to lead our country can only come from sincere sentiments.
Second, both his daughter-in-law and son-in-law are two of his most ardent supporters. How many in-laws boast about their father-in-law not only privately, but also publicly? Lara has no motive to boast other than genuine admiration and Jared could certainly stay silent.
When it comes to his business life, Trump puts his grown kids front and center. Fathers who want to dominate the spotlight, don’t do this. They own the public space and keep their adult kids in the background, in part, to avoid the risk that their kids will make derogatory statements about them. Trump takes the risk because he is confident they won’t humiliate or criticize him. He knows they will always support him.
When Trump’s older kids were young, he protected them from the paparazzi. He worked to keep his kids out of the spotlight until they wanted to jump into it of their own volition. His first three kids went away to school so that the press would leave them alone. Tiffany and Barron now enjoy that same privacy so they too can live their own lives. The president-elect could easily push all of them into the spotlight to make himself look like a good father, but he doesn’t. Eric, Ivanka, and Donald Jr., along with Lara Trump, put themselves in the public and political arenas to bolster President-elect Trump’s career.
When it comes to raising his family, Trump appears to have nothing to hide. Most fathers would be afraid to give their kids the freedom to say what they want about their dad. Who among us would have the confidence to give our kids such a large media presence to say whatever they want about us? Not me. Only a father who feels confident about the job he has done would do so.
Many divorced couples carry resentment and anger after their breakup with their spouse and psychologists know how damaging the animosity can be on the couple’s kids. Donald has kept his kids from a lot of pain by embracing friendships with his two ex-wives. And while Ivana Trump passed away in 2022, we still see photos of Marla Maples, Melania, and Donald standing together smiling for the camera at Tiffany Trump’s wedding.
The peculiar thing about the president-elect’s life is that he seems to have successfully split himself into two men: the father and the political genius. In his former role, he appears to have worked hard at having close relationships with his kids. To the best of his ability, he has tried to spend as much time as possible with them. This is no easy task when you are running a multi-million-dollar real estate empire and then while being president. Succeeding at both takes impossible time and energy and yet, with these challenges, he has somehow stayed close with his kids.
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The other side of Trump is hard to applaud. He has been accused of multiple incidents of sexual harassment and harmful sexual behavior toward women. He has admitted to being a poor husband at times, and his numerous public affairs with women confirm this. Good husbands don’t cheat on their wives or sexually harass other women. The peculiar part is that his five kids know this and still publicly support and encourage him. This occurs only because, in some genuinely incredible feat, Trump has found a way to communicate to his kids that being their father is a much higher priority than even being a husband, businessman, or politician. His life as a father is completely separate from his work life, and his kids must feel this. If they refused to forgive or ignore his deep flaws they would take every opportunity to denounce him on the worldwide stage.
Donald Trump is a complex man. He is both a good man and a villain. This is hard for people to understand. The truth is, however, that we are all complex beings. Like him, we are not simply good or evil, kind or cruel. We are both. Certainly, as a man, Trump has made poor decisions, and offended many people to the point where they despise him. But clearly, he has done something well when it comes to his kids. And their behavior is a testimony to his personal success as a father.
* * *
Meg Meeker, M.D., has spent more than thirty years practicing pediatric and adolescent medicine and counseling teens and parents. Dr. Meeker is a fellow of the National Advisory Board of the Medical Institute, and an associate professor of medicine at Michigan State School of Human Medicine. She is the author of the international best-seller “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Strong-Fathers-Daughters-Secrets-Father/dp/1621573303/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=">Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters</a>.”
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.

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