Challenges are embraced by daughter and son (5)
I believe the answer is:
dares
'challenges' is the definition.
(dare is a kind of challenge)
'are embraced by daughter and son' is the wordplay.
'embraced by' is an insertion indicator.
'daughter' becomes 'd'.
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'son' becomes 's'.
'd'+'s'='ds'
'are' going into 'ds' is 'DARES'.
(Other definitions for dares that I've seen before include "Has the courage to do brave or dangerous thing" , "Makes bold, challenges" , "Ventures" , "Makes bold, presumes to" , "''Who ..., wins'' (SAS motto)" .)