Have you ever taken the time to ask: What do we want for our children?

I believe that those who answer would say that we want our country to provide an equal playing field for all of our children; that we want all children to have great childhoods, to succeed in school, and to grow into healthy and productive citizens.

Yet somehow, this doesn’t always seem to be reflected in our attitudes or actions. According to UNICEF, the United States is ranked 26th out of the 29 wealthiest nations in the world in terms of child well-being, and 32nd out of 34 industrialized nations in terms of children living in poverty.

I’m not sure why our nation can’t do better by our children, but we surely have the time and the knowledge to improve these numbers and the lives of our children. We just need to have the will to accomplish it.

If we really want to do better for children, we can’t just rely on the government. We can’t believe it is one person or one department or one organization’s job. We must recognize that we all play a role in the lives of children and families, and that each of us has the ability to promote the kind of actions and factors that help families thrive, while reducing the risk factors for child abuse and neglect, such as stress and isolation.

What we can do is start by working to ensure that children are born healthy and raised in stable and nurturing environments. Services that help reduce incidences of birth complications or issues like low birth weight, which can lead to lifelong health problems such as diabetes and heart disease, are among ways we can help.

Then, there are individual actions we can take every day, as parents or otherwise, to help raise up families and, consequently, our communities.

Take coaching a sports team, for example. After-school programs like sports or academic clubs provide low-cost opportunities for children to learn and grow without forcing parents to leave work early. Or, organize a block party in the summer for the neighborhood, which helps create connections between neighbors and form the kind of community that reduces social isolation and offers a stable environment for families.

For a business owner, instituting family-friendly policies can be good for both the bottom line and the families of employees. Studies have shown that flexible scheduling for employees can help reduce stress, which is a risk factor for child maltreatment, and also improves worker happiness, which is good for productivity. The impact of such policies go even further — opening employment opportunities to those who wouldn’t be able to have a regular 9-to-5 job. They’re helpful for families to attain self-sufficiency, and reduce the number of children living in poverty.

These are but a few examples of how we can improve our standing to UNICEF — but more important, how we improve our standards for ourselves.

Working to create a better country for children and families isn’t complicated, but it is hard. That’s why it takes all of us.

Together, we can give children the great childhoods they deserve. And together, we can give Hawaii a brighter future.