Learn Italian: Il dialogo e la fiducia sono importanti per educare i figli. - Dialogue and trust are important to raise children.

In Italian, educare is a false friend. While it can mean "to educate," it is very often used to mean "to raise," "to bring up," or "to teach good manners to" (as in raising children). If you want to talk specifically about formal schooling, you would usually use istruire.

Why do we say Il dialogo e la fiducia instead of just Dialogo e fiducia?

In Italian, abstract nouns used in a general sense (like "dialogue" and "trust") require definite articles (il, la, etc.). In English, we drop the article for general concepts, but Italian keeps it.

Why use per before educare?

To say "in order to" or express the purpose of an action, Italian uses per followed by the infinitive of the verb. Here, per educare means "in order to raise" or "for raising."

Could I use bambini instead of figli here?

You could, but it changes the meaning slightly. I figli refers specifically to someone's own children (sons and daughters), regardless of their age. I bambini refers to "children" in the sense of young kids in general.