From Ms. Rachel to Bluey and PAW Patrol, children’s media is increasingly used to normalize ideas that conflict with biblical truth. Christian parents cannot remain passive. They must disciple their children actively and anchor them in the Word of God.
In January 2026, Ms. Rachel, a YouTube sensation known for her language-development videos for toddlers, visited a District 2 pre-K center with New York City’s newly elected mayor, Zohran Mamdani. The openly socialist mayor and the YouTuber with more than 19 million subscribers made an unlikely pair as they discussed emotions and sang “The Wheels on the Bus” together.
This same Ms. Rachel also regularly features a performer named Jules Hoffman, who identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, on her YouTube channel “Songs for Littles.” Off camera but on social media, Hoffman has posted anti-ICE messaging and celebratory support for the LGBTQ+ movement. These views appear to parallel Ms. Rachel’s own public posture. In several instances, she has celebrated Pride Month on her social media platforms, and more recently, she has been accused of promoting antisemitism.
One might wonder how such affiliations find their way into a children’s program, but these moments point to a larger trend: the politicization of children’s media.
Ms. Rachel is just one example. Behind colorful animations and friendly characters, many programs designed for young audiences now carry cultural messaging that goes beyond simple entertainment. The shift is often subtle, but it is strategic.
The Pattern
These programs gain an audience because they usually start with normalcy. The main characters appear in every episode to establish familiarity and comfort. A typical family is introduced — Mom and Dad, brother and sister. The environment feels safe and predictable. Over time, trust is built.
Eventually, one episode breaks the pattern to make a statement. A character may announce a non-binary identity. A new family may appear with two fathers, offering a sharp contrast to the reality children have come to expect from earlier episodes.
There are numerous examples of this. The episode “The Sign” from the popular children’s show “Bluey,” aimed primarily at children ages two to six, includes a reference to a classmate, Pretzel, having ‘two mums.’ The series has accumulated tens of billions of streaming minutes and is currently the most-streamed show in the United States. Likewise, “PAW Patrol,” which debuted in 2013, introduced a character named River in its 2023 Rubble & Crew spin off, a character the episode’s writer later described as nonbinary coded.
Although these programs are products of the 21st century, the broader strategy behind them is far older. The use of youth culture to advance ideological goals has a long historical record.
History’s Playbook
History repeatedly demonstrates that when ideas take root in childhood, they rarely disappear in adulthood. That is why nearly every major ideological movement has sought to shape the minds of the young.
In the early 1930s, when the Nazi regime consolidated power in Germany, it created mandatory youth organizations such as the Hitler Youth. School curricula were altered. Loyalty to the state was elevated above loyalty to family or church. Education, recreation, and even songs were redesigned to cultivate ideological conformity from childhood.
Similarly, during the Cultural Revolution in the People’s Republic of China from 1966 to 1976, Mao Zedong mobilized students through the Red Guard movement to purge what were called the “Four Olds”: old customs, old culture, old habits, and old ideas. Teachers and parents were publicly denounced. Youth-led campaigns, encouraged by the state, destabilized institutions almost overnight.
The cultural contexts may differ dramatically from Western children’s media today, but the underlying principle remains the same: Instill new beliefs in the next generation and the future direction of society can be reshaped — and quickly.
And that society increasingly is anti-family, anti-truth, anti-America, and anti-Christian.
The Biblical Mandate for Parents
How, then, should Christian parents navigate such a hostile environment?
Practical steps may include limiting screen time, curating what actually appears on that screen, monitoring children’s social media exposure, paying close attention to who their friends are, or even considering homeschooling.
Yet these responses remain secondary to the biblical responsibility placed upon parents.
Here’s what Deuteronomy 6:1-9 says about the formation of children:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
The expansive language of “when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” communicates the constant responsibility parents bear in raising their children in the Lord. The commands are comprehensive.
Modern parenting philosophies often encourage parents to let their children form their own conclusions about religion and morality. Scripture presents a different model. Parents are called to instruct their children actively in the Word of God.
That’s because when children are not instructed in the ways of the Lord, they are inevitably instructed in other ways. Scripture is clear that there is no neutrality.
Matthew 6:24 says: “No one can serve two masters.”
If a generation is not raised to worship the Lord, it will learn to worship something else. Often that substitute takes the form of personal autonomy, sexual identity, or the shifting moral values of the surrounding culture.
The question, then, is not whether the next generation will be formed, but who will form them?
At the intersection of entertainment, education, and ideology, Christian parents cannot afford to remain passive observers. Scripture’s charge remains clear: You must raise your children in the commandments of the Lord — diligently and without apology.
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