Prevention is the best medicine

The First Five Years Are Critical — 

Support Parents, Shape Futures

I just finished a training, and my brain won’t quiet down.
Because once again, I’m stuck asking:
Why do we wait until everything falls apart to offer help?

We say we care about kids.
We say the first five years are everything.
But what are we actually doing for the parents trying to raise those kids while battling trauma, postpartum, bipolar disorder, neurodivergence, or burnout so deep they can’t feel their own body?

What about the mom who’s sensory sensitive
With a child who is sensory seeking —
Who’s overstimulated, touched out, shut down,
But still gets up and does it anyway?

We act like support is a gift.
Like you have to earn it with a diagnosis, a delay, or a DCF case. 

But prevention is the best medicine —
And we are handing out band-aids when what families need is a lifeline.

We already have the tools. They’re just scattered and hidden behind a locked door labeled “crisis.” We have Early Intervention, but it waits for delay. We have PIWI, but it’s not being used where it’s needed most.
We have respite, but only if you can fight your way through the red tape and waitlists. We have postpartum support, if you’re lucky. If you’re insured. If you’re still asking for it by 6 weeks.

We COULD offer coaching, mental health care that wraps around the whole family. Peer support, trauma-informed childcare, and safe space to breathe-

Before the damage is done.

But instead, we wait. We wait for the child to fall behind. We wait for a hotline call. We wait for harm. Why are we failing the very people raising the future?

So no, we don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

We just need to FUND IT, connect it, believe in it.

And build systems that trust parents, not punishes them.

Because when we support parents, we protect children.

We prevent crisis. We rewrite futures.