Most parents agree raising kids can be overwhelming, and there is no shortage of advice on how to best navigate the challenges. But many of today's parents have come to rely on a clinical psychologist named Becky Kennedy, known as Dr. Becky. 

From Covid-19 to bestselling guru
Kennedy's teachings were an essential resource for many during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Her 2022 book, "Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want To Be," became a New York Times bestseller. 

Kennedy’s path to fame began with her Instagram account, launched in 2020, where she posted short clips acting out both sides of child-parent role plays. She covered topics like bedtime resistance and stubborn toddlers, and these videos often went viral, thanks to their ability to speak directly to parents' deepest frustrations, particularly during stay-at-home quarantine orders. Kennedy's confessional-style videos "made her feel like a parent who was in the trenches with me," said Liz Krieger at The Cut. 

The basic philosophy behind Kennedy’s teachings is gentle parenting, a method that aims to respond to a child's emotional reality rather than jumping straight into strict discipline. "You see your kid as being on the same team, like, it's me and my kid against a problem, not me against my kid," she said to The New Yorker. 

'Connects more with parents in this moment'
After Kennedy's pandemic-era Instagram reels struck a nerve, she capitalized on it, launching a website called Good Inside and a podcast. She is now the kind of sought-after expert who can charge up to $100,000 for a speaking fee. She also single-handedly invented a new concept, the Deeply Feeling Kid, which has helped many parents make sense of their children's emotional inscrutability.

Some of Kennedy's success can likely be attributed to the way she channels parents' frantic energy in her videos and often seems, herself, tired and worn out. There's "something about her delivery that connects more with parents in this moment," said Doree Shafrir at Time, making her the "millennial parenting whisperer."

Moldova is bracing for Russian-led political turmoil ahead of a crucial presidential election and referendum on future membership in the EU. Although Moldova does not share a border with Russia, its separatist region of Transnistria has become the rallying cry used by Moscow to undermine the tiny country. In February, pro-Russian separatist leaders issued an appeal to Putin for "protection" that "echoed similar 'appeals' from inside Ukraine that set in motion the illegal Russian annexations of its territories," said experts at U.K. policy institute Chatham House. 

Why Moldova? 
While other democracies fear foreign governments meddling in their affairs, such interference is already an "everyday reality" for Moldova, said Politico. Some local officials and Western diplomats have warned that the ongoing interference efforts from Moscow may "lay the groundwork among locals for a possible Russian invasion at some point."

Russia maintains about 1,500 troops in Transnistria but has chosen to wage "hybrid warfare" in Moldova, "whereby the Kremlin is using all available means of leverage and interference to impose its will, short of bombing the country," said Josh Rogin in The Washington Post. Moscow has "tried to orchestrate a coup, trained fake anti-government protesters, flooded the country with disinformation and funneled illicit cash to pro-Russian opposition parties."

Crucial upcoming votes 
Russian activity is expected to ramp up further ahead of Moldova's elections this fall, with the next few months likely to present a "critical test" of the country's "internal resilience to Russian aggressive encroachment," said Chatham House. About 60% of Moldovans now support closer ties with the West, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has made Moldova and its Harvard-educated President Maia Sandu the "poster children for the bloc's march East," said Politico. But Moldova knows that its survival as a democracy is effectively tied to that of Ukraine. 

"It's not an issue of whether Russia wants to invade; it's only an issue of if they can," Moldova's Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi told The Washington Post. "God forbid, if the Russians would feel emboldened, clearly Moldova would be next. And after that, it's anybody's guess."