What if the straight path from high school to college isn't the best way to prepare our kids for life? Abby Falik graduated from Stanford exhausted and burnt out—despite playing the academic game perfectly. That experience led her to spend two decades creating alternatives, founding Global Citizen Year and raising over $65 million to help thousands of young people take transformative bridge years.

Now, with The Flight School, Abby is challenging the entire paradigm. She believes our kids are missing something essential: wisdom, a sense of what it means to be human, and the capacity to navigate uncertainty. Through immersive experiences and "the power of the pause," she's reimagining the transition from high school into a rebellious rite of passage that builds a compass, not just credentials. And she also regularly shares her emerging observations and wisdoms via substack.

Why This Matters

→ The race to college can create hollow achievers rather than wise humans. Many kids work hard to be accepted to college only to arrive exhausted, directionless, and disconnected from any deeper sense of purpose or meaning. Achievement isn't the same as wisdom, and credentials don't teach you what it means to be human.

→ The world our kids face requires a different kind of preparation. In an era of unprecedented uncertainty and rapid change, following a predetermined path won't serve them. They need to develop their own internal compass, learn to navigate ambiguity, and discover what they actually care about; that requires a new approach.

→ The pause isn't a detour—it's the point. Taking time between high school and college isn't falling behind; it's an intentional rite of passage that can fundamentally change a young person's trajectory. When we give kids permission to step off the treadmill and into the unknown, they discover who they are and what matters—which changes everything that comes after.

When your kids hit the teenage years, the conversations get harder—and more important. How do you talk about sex, failure, relationships, money, and yes, the uncertain future they're inheriting? Jen Shoemaker Davidson, author of Keep Talking: Conversations with Our Kids When They Want Us Least but Need Us Most, isn't a clinician or parenting expert—she's a mom who figured out how to stay connected to her teens even when they pushed back. Through her "life lesson lunches" and commitment to showing up for the awkward conversations, Jen developed a practical approach to building trust and maintaining open communication. Today, she shares strategies for tackling the topics that matter most—including how to help kids process their hopes, fears, and expectations for a future that looks nothing like ours.

Why This Matters

→ The hardest conversations are the most important—and most parents are avoiding them. When kids enter their teens, many parents retreat just when kids need them most. Without open dialogue, kids fill the void with peers, social media, AI chatbots, or silence—none of which prepare them for what's ahead or keep them safe from emerging threats like online exploitation, gambling debts, or worse.

→ The threats our kids face have evolved far beyond "the talk." While we're still focused on condom conversations, our kids are navigating AI companions, online predators, sexploitation, gaming and gambling debts, cyberbullying, and levels of anxiety and dread that can lead to suicidal ideation. Surveillance isn't the answer—real communication is.

→ Kids today are inheriting unprecedented uncertainty—and they need us to talk about it. Climate change, economic shifts, AI disrupting careers, rapidly changing social norms—our kids face a future we can't fully predict. If we can't create space to discuss both the everyday challenges and their fears about tomorrow, we're leaving them to process it alone—or with AI companions that can't provide what a trusted parent can.

How to Raise (and Support) a Real Life Superhero | Yarrow Kraner

As the world changes faster each day, how can we raise and support superheroes ready for the task? Said another way, what if a child’s challenging traits isn't a problem to fix but a superpower waiting to emerge?

In 1999, Yarrow Kraner launched one of the world's earliest social networks built on a radical belief: everyone has unique gifts that can change the world—especially in children—galvanizing 1.5 million youth into action. In 2004 In 2004, he founded HATCH, connecting and cross-pollinating diverse global influencers and NextGen youth leaders to accelerate collaborations and solutions for the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. By bringing together today's real-life superheroes—from astronauts to composers, inventors to software engineers—HATCH has led to thousands of collaborations, companies formed, and systems change at the policy level. The results have impacted the lives of 100 million people.

Yarrow shares how he sees human potential and how we can all recognize the visionary traits in children before the world carves away their gifts. As well as ways we can create the conditions where superpowers such as empathy and creativity can flourish.

Why This Matters:

→ Your child’s misunderstood traits might be their greatest strength. What looks like defiance, distraction, or impracticality could be visionary thinking in disguise—but only if we learn to recognize and nurture it.

→ We're accidentally crushing curiosity. Preschoolers ask over 100 questions a day; by middle school, that curiosity has nearly vanished. This dramatic drop is what happens when wonder meets a world that doesn't know how to hold it.

→ Society desperately needs more visionaries—but many never bloom. The environments we can create (or not) can be the difference between those superpowers emerging or being shut down forever.