A recent Wall Street Journal headline grabbed my attention:

Family Dinners are Key to Children’s Health. So Why Don’t We Eat Together More?

It’s a good question and one that’s easily answered:

It’s a combination of conflicting work schedules and today’s parents giving higher priority to their children’s extracurricular activities than they do to family togetherness.

Researchers from Harvard Medical School report that between 1996 and 2008, family dinners with teens declined on average from five days per week to four. But a more recent survey out of the University of Minnesota found that one-third of families ate together just one or two times each week, if at all.

This is even though studies show teens who dine with their families more frequently suffer less anxiety and depression and are much less likely to be addicted to drugs and alcohol than kids who eat on the run. Families who eat at home are also healthier and struggle less with obesity.

We all like a good meal but eating together as a family has less to do with what’s on the table and everything to do with who’s in the chairs surrounding it. “All great change in America begins at the dinner table,” President Ronald Reagan said in his 1989 farewell address.

A Pennsylvania public school biology teacher was suspended recently for refusing to use the “preferred pronouns” of sexually confused students as required by school board policy. Over 400 people showed up at the next school board meeting to support the teacher, who was reinstated. The board also revoked its pronoun policy after the show of parental concern.

The upset win in the 2021 governor’s race in Virginia by Republican Glenn Youngkin has been attributed to parents’ negative reaction to several high-profile school boards’ treatment of gender ideology, critical race theory, pornographic books in school libraries, and the suspensions of Christian teachers who objected to the policies.

The turning point in the Virginia race likely occurred during a debate between Youngkin and Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who said at one point, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

Heading into the November mid-term elections, are parents still engaged? Will educational and parental rights issues determine who wins and who loses?

All signs point to a likely “yes,” according to recent surveys, even those conducted by liberal-leaning organizations.

DFER release a poll in July that concluded likely voters in Congressional battleground districts “no longer trust Democrats over Republicans on issues related to education.”

A pro-life law firm representing thousands of pregnancy resource centers across America told Senator Elizabeth Warren and other abortion-supporting senators not to “use the power of their office to harass private citizens” in response to a letter the senators sent demanding information from the pro-life pregnancy centers.

The senators sent a letter to Heartbeat International, a pro-life organization that represents thousands of pregnancy resource centers, in September demanding that the organization respond to a laundry list of questions the senators have about the pro-life centers.

In the letter, the senators said they were concerned about the privacy of patient data but used the opportunity to accuse Heartbeat International and its affiliate pregnancy resource centers of “misleading” women, “luring pregnant people” and “using a variety of false and misleading tactics” to get health information.

Then the senators suggested that these pro-life organizations that exist to love and support women during their pregnancy and beyond are potentially reporting women to authorities.

The senators demanded a response from Heartbeat International by October 3rd. Well, they received a letter back on October 3rd, but it probably wasn’t the response they were expecting. First Liberty, a nonprofit, public interest law firm that defends religious liberty and is currently representing Heartbeat International in this matter, responded to the senators.