I think this made it finally “click” for me. So here’s how I should have probably been looking at it:
Kana is the primary spelling of the word. So the Japanese word for father is spelled おとうさん, similarly to how the English word is spelled “father”.
Kanji, even though it’s used more often, is just an additional layer on top of the primary spelling.
I was thinking of kanji as the primary spelling and hiragana as a pronunciation aid, but instead I should think of hiragana as the primary spelling and kanji as a shortcut to kana readings.
Does it make sense?