As parents, we hold our children's hands as they navigate the world, hoping they will be safe, loved, and valued. We send them to school expecting a safe community to support their academic journey.

Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old non-binary student, attended Owasso High School in Oklahoma, where instead of being received by a safe and welcoming community, their family says they were relentlessly bullied for months over their gender identity.

On February 7, during an altercation with three other students in the bathroom, Benedict reportedly blacked out while they were beaten on the bathroom floor. They died the following day.

Nineteen days later, the Associated Press reports more than a dozen Owasso students walked out of class in protest. They say they want action against discrimination and bullying of transgender and nonbinary students. There have been vigils held in Oklahoma and across the country.

Every year cicadas burst forth from the desert floor of the Las Vegas Valley, my hometown, emerging with the magnitude of a biblical plague. An image portending ecological and human devastation and suffering brought about and called upon by some oppressive pharaoh’s subjugation. A sign. A sound so significant that every year and over the decades, people of Las Vegas call the Nevada Department of Agriculture to complain about the noise.

Diceroprocta apache, the Apache cicada, was renamed the desert cicada in 2021 through the Entomological Society of America’s “Better Common Names Project.” A communications effort by the bug organizers of America to remove no longer acceptable descriptors of “cultures, populations, ethnicity, or race” from common names.

The scientific remains. Diceroprocta apache.

Season 6 of Love is Blind is currently airing, and it's been making headlines for a unique reason: it features the first single mom participant, Jessica Vestal. Early in the initial batch of released episodes, Jessica expressed her fear about revealing to the male contestants that she is a mother.

"I'm super nervous about how some of the guys are gonna receive that I have a child,” she shared with the group.

Co-host of the Netflix show, Vanessa Lachey, asked, “Do you think that that’s something that you’re going to wait to tell someone, or you think that you’re going to come out of the gate, you know, and be like, by the way, I have a kid?”

To that, Jessica responded, "I want to give people the chance to get to know me individually first, because even though I'm a mother, and it's the most important thing to me, it doesn't define me. Like, I feel like I'll just know when the time is right to tell somebody."

Some Washington State students will feel the impact of a $14,898,500 funding investment in low or no-emission school buses in the coming academic year, based in part on the work established in the Biden–Harris Administration’s Investing in America initiative. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced these awards as part of its Clean School Bus Program’s grants competition, which aims to support sustainable transportation in schools. This initiative aligns with the presidential administration’s expressed commitment to investing in the future of education and the environment.

Michael Regan, director of the EPA, announced the $1 billion in awards. “I have to tell you, as a father of a 10-year-old, I am thinking about the clean air that our children will breathe, the reduction of incidences of youth respiratory distress, and their ability to fully embrace education without being distracted from illnesses,” said Regan, referring to the program’s replacement of carbon-emitting diesel buses with electric or low-carbon vehicles.

Just as students are getting back into the swing of things post winter break, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced 67 recipients of the EPA’s first Clean School Bus Program’s Grants Competition. The awards were possible thanks to President Joe Biden’s Investing in America initiative, and will allow for more than 2,700 school buses in 280 school districts serving over seven million students.

“It’s an exciting day for us to be able to announce this $1 billion, which will be a shot in the arm to get clean school buses to every community, sooner, rather than later,” Michael Regan, Director of the EPA, tells Parents.

As the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) seeks to grow and improve maternal and infant health by connecting more people to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC, outreach has been stymied by a Congress that keeps kicking the funding can down the road in six-week increments.

“We’re in a bit of a dilemma where it’s difficult to grow if you don’t have the additional funds,” said USDA Deputy Under Secretary Stacy Dean to the Emerald. “Congress has given us the ability to spend more of last year’s money in the early part of the year, and that’s been very helpful. All states have the resources they need. But we can’t do that forever because we’re going to run out.”

Barbie Summer is about to become Barbie Fall, as this month Barbie recognizes Wilma Mankiller as the newest addition to the Inspiring Women series. In honor of Mankiller’s upcoming birthday on November 18, Barbie collaborated closely with Wilma's family, friends, and the Cherokee Nation on the doll's creation. Designed from an iconic photograph of Wilma taken by her husband Charlie Soap in 2005, the Wilma Mankiller Barbie doll holds a woven basket and wears a richly pigmented turquoise dress with ribbon striping that represents the four directions: north, south, east, and west.

“I am thrilled to see Wilma Mankiller as Barbie. Growing up in the 80’s my sisters and I were passionate about playing with Barbies and I could never have imagined that one day I could see Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller as Barbie,” said Colleen Echohawk, organizer and CEO of the Native-owned Eighth Generation. Echohawk reflected to Parents, “Principal Chief Mankiller is a role model and icon for ALL women and girls who believe that we can achieve greatness by seeing the humanity in every individual and opening the doors of opportunity.”

I was overseas when the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict erupted into a brutal October wave. Each morning, away from my community in Seattle, I awoke hours before my family to scroll through an avalanche of social media. Post after post of opinions, rage, graphic images, and downright horror. Information was moving torrentially and shared with similar speed, third-party posters having no time to look into the validity, sources, or evidence of what they were sharing. Major news outlets were moving too fast and making huge errors in the process, and journalists covering disinformation, such as Shayan Sardarizadeh for the BBC, have since been doing the rounds on viral posts containing false claims, conspiracy theories, and hateful content about the war.

Right now, Congress is vastly divided over a plan to fund the government. And if lawmakers can't get their acts together, the government could shut down this weekend.

The Senate reached a stopgap spending agreement late Tuesday afternoon that would keep government agencies open through November 17. The short-term bill would fund the government at present levels, but it remains to be seen if it will pass through both a Senate amendment process and a contentious House by the time the deadline hits—this Saturday at midnight.

Democrats and Republicans in the House meanwhile are even farther apart in their own effort to come up with a temporary spending bill.

If a shutdown occurs this weekend or is kicked down the road a month from now, parents will feel a strain that many have felt before. Programs affected include those that have a disproportionate impact on parents, families, and children from low-income households. If a shutdown does happen, here is what parents need to know.

As Jews enter the first of the high holidays of Judaism, Rosh Hashanah, many prepare for the 10 Days of Repentance, or, Asseret Yemei HaTeshuvah. During these 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Jews reflect, atone, and practice teshuvah.

“The Hebrew term teshuva is a derivation of the Hebrew root for returning,” writes Samuel J. Levine, “highlighting the purpose and dynamics of a process through which humans are able to renounce and repair the improper actions that have led them astray, thereby returning to God and to their own true selves.”

Teshuvah is a comprehensive practice, not a general or vague quest for forgiveness from another. While I have certainly received a phone call in my past consisting of, “Hey, if I happened to harm you this past year, sorry about it!”, teshuvah is actually a full process of accountability. It calls for responsibility and commitment to change. To me, it is the work of transformative justice.

As the academic year kicks off, parents and guardians across Seattle fill out last-minute paperwork, pack backpacks and lunch sacks, and remind countless children to set out their clothes the night before. While adults nudge children and teenagers to grab a sweater on their way out the door, many can forget to actively check in and stay engaged with their kids’ mental health.

“Adults often have trouble understanding what students are going through,” said Natalya McConnell, executive board director of the Seattle Student Union and senior at Franklin High School. “We have never had such a widespread pandemic, and this has isolated a lot of students,” she continued, adding that many students are still in a state of crisis. That the past three years have been difficult for students to navigate is largely understood; Seattle recently approved a $4.5 million investment in the Student Mental Health Supports pilot.

Almost a quarter of Seattle parents are raising their children in co-parent or single-parent households, and the percentage of blended families nationwide is on the rise. While every household structure comes with unique challenges and struggles, some hit harder than others. Just financially, the median income for married couples with children under 18 in Seattle peaked at $237,300, but for single mothers, that number drops down to $58,600, well below a living wage in this city for an adult with children.

While information is not tracked on how many single-parent-led households are actively co-parenting, most parenting plans resulting from a divorce or separation in Washington involve shared custody agreements. Lucia Ramirez Levias, collaborative divorce lawyer and partner at DuBois Levias Law Group, said, “Our courts have generally looked at kids needing both parents in their lives, to the extent that those parents are fit and able to care for them.” The movement toward 50/50 parenting plans ensures dads are also recognized as valuable, important parents in kids’ lives.

I boarded the ferry with my son in my arms, crossing over the Puget Sound to where his father waited on the other side. After handing over our little one, I waited on the dock for the return ferry to begin loading. Back on the ferry, watching the shoreline grow smaller and smaller, I felt as though my heart and limbs were missing. My introduction to co-parenting was less conventional and rather cinematic.

In the beginning years of co-parenting, we all feel the loneliness and pain of not having our child with us every day. While the years have passed, and my son’s father and I have grown and evolved along the journey, I know firsthand just how heavy an emotional toll co-parenting can take on all.

Parents new to this world, are sharing powerful videos on TikTok conveying these challenges. One of the most immediate experiences a new co-parent has is coming home to silence.

Washington State has already prohibited public universities from using affirmative action for the past quarter-century, but that doesn’t mean the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College won’t have far-reaching consequences beyond state collegiate systems. While the court has effectively ended admission policies that address inequity through race-conscious measures, this decision has the potential to set back equity efforts through the entirety of the educational pathway.

“I have real concerns not only for Seattle, but more prominently in the U.S., about how this is going to impact funding models long-term,” said Brandon Hersey, the South End’s director on the Seattle Public Schools board. Hersey recognizes that numerous universities and colleges have been working in preparation to ensure equity in their admission processes. His greater concern is the legal precedent of calling into question any strategy based on race, potentially limiting both the ability and resources to support students of color throughout their entire academic timeline.

A trending TikTok video posted by Max Areeg shows two parents preparing for their son's birthday. The couple in the video playfully blew up balloons, hung decorations together, and the video ends with one tossing a pillow at the other. If it wasn't spelled out, one would never know that the couple was in the middle of a divorce. Areeg is seen on her soon-to-be ex-husband's shoulders, rubbing balloons onto his hair to generate static electricity to cling the balloons to the ceiling. The laughter and fun times shown are certainly not the common narratives of modern divorce.

I can attest to the necessary ingredients of a successful co-parenting relationship, having co-parented for more than eight years. Co-parenting is always a shared journey, whether it is a 50/50 split, or like mine, more of an 85/15. Separated parents who still have to child-rear together need healthy communication, plenty of patience, and the establishment of clear boundaries.

Hate and bigotry apparently don't just trickle down, they can rise up as well. Tianna Bastien, a mom and TikTok-er under the handle @thecuratedlobe, lives just outside of Toronto. She recently shared with Parents that the ongoing escalation of anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation and the anti-gay climate rising in the states have had the impact of empowering bigoted voices and are increasing hateful anti-gay sentiments and rhetoric in Canada.

Bastien's newest TikTok features her children and a friend attending the Drag and Brunch show at CommunityResto. "I decided that the voiceover that I was going to do for the video was going to take a sarcastic tone to highlight how ridiculous people who are against drag queens are actually sounding."