The conflict that families are facing, as parents work to defend their position as the primary authority in the lives of their children, thus far has been largely ignited by the infringement of education and healthcare systems. On a daily basis, these institutions push to remove authority from loved ones and place it in the hands of government-backed experts.

However, there are far more areas of life in which parental roles are being systematically eradicated from existence in society. It’s not just the physical presence in our kids’ lives that’s on the chopping block but also the right to determine what values our own children should be taught. We parents want to pass on traditions, customs, and beliefs that have been proven to not only better our own lives but to benefit the growth and prosperity of society as a whole.

There have been feminist movements over the course of several decades that elevated the idea of having our babies raised by caregivers outside of the home. This succeeded in normalizing early separation between mothers and babies under the guise of “women’s rights.” Such an arrangement was once a last resort for families who had no other option for their children but to put them in daycare, but it has now become a last resort for families to find a way for a parent to be in the home, raising their own kids.

The Left is on a constant rampage when it comes to undermining family teachings. Books are put in places of easy access for young students that discuss things like male/female “identities” and work to undo the concepts of inherent, undeniable traits that come with being a man or a woman, a boy or a girl.

The leftist worldview suggests that boundaries in intimacy are unnecessary, that a life of being single and alone is the path to true liberation and happiness, and that the desire to settle down and raise your own family is only present in your psyche due to past, antiquated ideas devised by oppressive social constructs. The goal is to directly sabotage the teachings on morals and self-worth that kids’ older, wiser, and more experienced parents might be trying to instill.

Social apps are refined with advertising and targeted messaging developed for the purpose of driving our youth toward content and videos that will reaffirm the deviant, amoral concepts that they just read about in the “banned” book provided by their teacher, or support the activist beliefs of their favorite leftist influencer.

Themes in media and entertainment have become overrun with dialogue and interactions between characters that belittle the roles of moms and dads, trivializes the innocence of children, and mocks their parents as insensitive beings who are woefully out of touch with the issues they face.

Characters in movies and cartoons geared toward our youth are increasingly becoming symbols of anti-Christian, anti-family concepts. The spoken dialogue tends to directly contradict ideas like men being masculine and the value of women who nurture and care for society’s most vulnerable.

As an example, in one of the most recent of the well-loved “Lego Movie” series, the end of the movie sees the leading character, Emmett, and his co-star, Lucy, entering their final confrontation with the movie’s villain, President Business. During an intense conversation between the three characters, as the villain is attempting to figure out what mighty warrior thwarted his evil plans, he first turns to Emmett to question if he was the one to complete this mission.

To the villain’s surprise, Lucy steps in to defend Emmett, as he is unable to articulate a clear sentence in his own defense, and she tries to insist that her male counterpart is worthy of praise in their efforts as a team to bring down the evil plans of the bad guy. However, the villain dismisses her claims and proceeds to assert that Emmett possesses no leadership qualities whatsoever, that he is unsuited in general to accomplish anything heroic or meaningful. He concludes that this male figure has essentially served as nothing but a dead weight to Lucy in their objective.

Lucy tries to shine a light on the good qualities that Emmett possesses as a person and brought to the table as a partner in crime. She gives a speech about the squishy, kind, comforting, and silly traits he offered as her sidekick — things she valued in the role of her support system, even if he didn’t do any of the heavy lifting.

Movies such as this are loved by children and young people of all ages, and often watched more than once — meaning the idea that boys equally possess the feminine qualities of girls is drilled into their minds numerous times, and the concept becomes normalized and accepted without a second thought.

The objective of these tactics is to take whatever we attempt to teach our kids, in the limited time we spend with them each day, and have it immediately erased the moment they open a book, turn on their computer, pick up their phone, or watch a movie.

However, the hope for parents should not be lost, nor should we shrink from our fight to protect our roles, our influence, and our values.

The more we’re aware of the strategies of the adversary, the more we know how to counter their efforts and stifle their power.