Literally Hitler: Your kids deserve better.

It feels like everywhere we turn, fear is being used to manipulate us. 

Whether it’s politicians hyping up some looming disaster, media pundits stirring up panic about their latest boogeyman, or the sick feeling we get in the pits of our stomachs when we see the ways the Department of Justice has been weaponized, fear is all around us. 

And it makes sense. Because fear is the most effective way to control people. 

It works.

When people are afraid, they don’t ask questions. They just fall in line.

In some states, families are being told that if they don’t “affirm” their child’s gender identity, they could lose custody. Can you imagine the fear these parents must feel?

On the national stage, fear is being used to pit people against each other. 

A growing number of anti-Trump voices are so desperate to win votes for Kamala Harris that they’ve resorted to saying Trump will round people up and load them onto trains—evoking powerful Nazi imagery to support their baseless claims. 

You’ve probably heard the “Literally Hitler” line so many times, it has lost all meaning, except to those who are easily manipulated. It has the potential to stir them up to extreme thinking (and maybe even extreme action) because they believe they are literally fighting against one of the greatest evils the world has ever known.

But that’s the whole point of fearmongering isn’t it? To make people abandon all reason. To make them into robots who don’t think—they just act.

Fear is paralyzing.

It makes people give up their freedoms without a second thought.

It keeps them silent when they should speak up. 

It makes them turn on family and friends.

If we let our kids grow up in a world dominated by fear, they’ll miss out on so much.

That’s why we put together a free resource to help parents talk to their kids about fear.  

Face Your Fears includes parent articles, family conversation starters, and activities to help kids recognize fear for what it is, and to learn how to push through it.

Fear will always be part of life, but it doesn’t have to control us. In fact, some of life’s best moments happen just on the other side of fear.

Our job as parents isn’t to protect our kids from ever feeling fear—it’s to help them learn how to face it. Whether it’s fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of things they don’t understand, or just the fear of trying something new, they need to know that fear doesn’t have to stop them. 

If we can help them develop the kind of courage that comes from understanding fear and not letting it shape the way they see and interact with the world around them, they’ll be prepared to stand up for what’s right—even when powerful forces pressure them to back down.

You can download Face Your Fears here and get started right now. 

With Halloween just a few days away, it’s a great time to sit down around the dinner table and talk about this stuff.

I’m so grateful to be part of a growing community of parents who understand the importance of having these types of conversations with their kids. 

We are raising a generation that won’t be easily manipulated by fear and that knows how to stand for what is right—even when it might be scary. 

Those are the kind of people we’re going to need.

— Connor