Society should see parenting as a public health issue and help

Hear the solemn words of Bernie Siegel, physician and healer, who declared: “Society should see parenting as a public health issue and help parents to bring their children up feeling loved. We have birthing classes, but no parenting classes. The latter is desperately needed if we are to avoid self-destruction.” These words strike like a warning bell across generations, reminding us that the raising of children is not a private task alone, but a duty that shapes the destiny of nations. For in the way children are nurtured—or neglected—lies the fate of society itself.

From the dawn of civilization, leaders and sages understood that the household is the seed of the city, and the child is the seed of the future. Yet modern times have exalted science, medicine, and wealth while neglecting the art of parenting—that sacred craft by which character, empathy, and resilience are formed. Siegel’s cry is that we must not treat parenting as mere instinct or chance, but as a matter of public health, for the wounds of childhood spill into the world as violence, despair, and division. To raise unloved children is to plant the seeds of ruin; to raise loved children is to plant the seeds of peace.

The contrast Siegel draws is sharp: “We have birthing classes, but no parenting classes.” We train the body to endure labor, but not the soul to endure the lifelong work of raising another human being. We prepare mothers and fathers for the first hours of life, yet leave them unprepared for the years that follow. Thus, many stumble through parenthood without guidance, repeating the errors of their own upbringing, uncertain how to discipline without cruelty, or how to nurture without indulgence. And when mistakes multiply, the burden falls not only on families, but on the whole of society.

History offers us a lesson in the decline of Sparta. That mighty city trained its citizens to be warriors from childhood, stripping boys from their families and raising them in camps of severity. This was parenting by the state, but it was a parenting of steel without love. For a time, it produced armies feared across Greece, but in the end, it produced citizens ill-suited for anything beyond war. The city that neglected to raise its children in love collapsed upon itself. Siegel’s words echo this ancient truth: without love, without wisdom in parenting, we march toward self-destruction.

Yet within his words there is not only warning, but also hope. For if society can recognize that parenting is a public health issue, then it can rise to support families with knowledge, compassion, and community. Just as we teach people how to prevent disease, we can teach them how to prevent despair in the home. Just as we instruct new life into the world through birthing classes, we can instruct parents in how to foster love, resilience, and empathy in children. Such an investment would be greater than any monument or fortress, for it would fortify the very hearts of the next generation.

The lesson is this: to raise a child is to shape the future of humanity. No parent should walk this path alone, unaided, or without wisdom. Society must rise to provide guidance, not judgment; support, not shame. And parents, for their part, must embrace the humility to learn, to grow, to admit they do not know all, and to seek counsel. Parenting is not instinct alone—it is a skill, a calling, a sacred labor that requires both love and knowledge.

Therefore, let all who hear these words take action: support the teaching of parenting as we support the teaching of medicine, law, or governance. Encourage communities to provide wisdom to families, to help them raise children in love. And if you are a parent, seek learning as you would for any craft of great consequence, for this is the greatest craft of all. For when children are raised with love and wisdom, the world itself is healed.

Thus Bernie Siegel’s words, though spoken in modern times, echo the ancient wisdom of prophets and philosophers: if we fail in parenting, we fail in civilization; if we succeed, we succeed in humanity itself. And in this truth lies the choice before every generation: to ignore parenting and invite destruction, or to honor it and build a world of love.