The biggest challenge I face? It's a personal one because I'm a single mom who's ex is more interested in being a playmate with his kids than a parent to them. So my biggest challenge is trying to bring them up as well rounded and with as little scarring as possible.
I have a young teenage girl and a pre-teen boy. I would say that the toughest challenges for them through these tough years are keeping true to themselves. Not succumbing to peer pressure. Knowing that being mean to someone in order to climb the social ladder is wrong and to not do it. They need to be nice, work hard and remember to take responisiblity for their actions and understand consequences. This is almost a foreign concept in the middle schools.
As far as challenges on a global level, I guess it would be trying to keep them informed, but not cynical and not discouraged. This is such a challenge for me because I am cynical and sometimes it's so hard not to be discouraged.