Melanie, as you step into leadership at PEN, 'cause I know you're, you're fairly new to your role at the Parent Engagement Network, what are you seeing as some of the biggest challenges that are facing parents and families today?

Yeah, I mean, I think it's probably similar to what a lot of everybody, I guess, everybody is going through, is just overwhelm and, um, and feeling under-resourced.

Um, I think parents, we're, we're living at a really unique time because we are very informed, over-informed I would argue, um, about what's going on with our kids, um, what we need to know as parents, and in some ways, um, it's, you know, we have all d- different ways of raising children.

I know, you know, generations ago it was sort of like one path, and you either were on that path or you were doing something totally your own, and now it's just a lot of choices about what we n- want to do with our kids.

Um, and we're also living in a time where I think society, societally, um, there's a lot of isolation, and just in general, but I think parents feel that even more so because it affects their own personal, um, ways in the world and, you know, family rifts and things and the w- the world of politics dividing us, and then their kids also feel that on different levels.

Um, and so I, I think I always feel like the biggest need in society right now, particularly for families, is community and connect- and connection with other people.

You know, we, we do this silo thing where we all have our own home and our own routines and our own meals we cook together, and we send our kids off to school, and we work our jobs, and we're alone so much of the time, and that is just truly not how we're naturally built.

Yeah