This year, Katie McPherson’s 3-year-old son starts at a school for pre-K through 8th grade students. That’s a big step, and means a lot of changes. Sadly, it means McPherson is, for the first time, confronting an ugly reality of parenting in America: “I’m grappling with the fear and anxiety I know parents have been living with for years: what if there’s a shooting at my kid’s school?”

— Kelly Faircloth, Executive Editor

“One thing I was fully not prepared for when I became a mom is how much I would worry about my kids' friendships,” writes Samantha Darby. “Even when they're tiny little potatoes rolling around on a blanket during a playdate, you worry about it. You invest time and energy into making connections for them, putting them in preschool so they can ‘be socialized,’ encouraging them to say hi to other kids at the park and to share their toys.” So how much should we be involved? She gets into it with an expert.