Parent advocacy is a complicated beast. Parent advocates for the most part, are born from three distinct impetuses: a desire to fix something for their own child or children; anger about a new policy being imposed; or a collective drive to create a new service or program. Just as it is impossible to relegate all parent advocacy into one category, it is important to remember that the capacity to advocate is not distributed equally among all parents. Advocacy often requires a great deal of social capital along with an ability to know how to "work the system". For these reasons, it is essential that the education system maintain a balance--between truly listening to and supporting parents, and ensuring that underlying all decisions is a foundation of both equity and evidence. (Contains 5 endnotes.)