I am the mother of a 20-year-old son and a 16-year-old daughter. And I have been through it all. Moving to a new state when my kids were 14 and 10, navigating a pandemic with teenagers, the pressures of high school life, college applications, gifted programs, peer pressure, driving, relationship issues… as well as all the adolescent obstacles that came before. As a stay at home mom, the pressure has always been on me to do everything— make lunches, volunteer at school, coach sports teams, drive them everywhere… and now I am at the stage where I am needed less physically, but the emotional and financial burdens are more prevalent. One of my kids is also part of the LGBTQ community, so I also have experience supporting and being involved in social justice advocacy on behalf of my child. No one gets a handbook when they become a parent, and none of us can do this alone… but together with support and advice given from learned experience, we can make this world a better place for our kids