April 1. April Fool. The ideal day to start a new, crazy adventure.

Thirteen years ago, on April 1, 2009, College Parent Central was born.  It felt right. Launch something that seems as though it might be a good idea and see what happens. Who knows?

Now, on April 1, 2022, we’re proud to say that we still think it’s a good idea and we’re still here. Still growing. Still finding new and interesting ways to reach out to parents. Still providing information and support.

We’re celebrating our birthday!

When we began College Parent Central thirteen years ago, there wasn’t much of anything available to help college parents understand their role and how to support their student. There were a few books out there and a very few articles online. In the years since, we’ve been joined in this space by many websites, organizations and a host of books for parents and students. College parents matter and knowing how best to help your student can make a difference.

First things first

As we celebrate this anniversary, the first and most important thing to say is thank you. We are grateful for the many parents, educators and counselors who have shared our information with others, who have provided us with helpful feedback, and who have taught us so much over the years.

Thank you.

You’ve kept us going. You have inspired us. You have taught us and let us know what matters to you.

Back to our roots

Anniversaries and birthdays are a good time to reflect on who we are and what matters to us. Each year at this time we look back at the basic principles that got us started and we reaffirm that they still matter.

Our appearance has changed over time. Our attention moves from one topic to another – and sometimes back again. We adapt and try new things. But our foundation hasn’t shifted. We still believe that parents matter and have an important role to play in preparing their students for college and in helping them achieve a successful conclusion.

• We believe that parents are partners in their child’s education from pre-school through college.
• We believe that our parental role changes as our child grows, but never ends.
• We believe that parents have a place in their child’s college experience.
• We believe that if parents understand their role in the college experience they will be able to support their student toward success and independence.

We continue to grow

Anniversaries and birthdays are also ideal occasions to reflect on what we’ve accomplished. Although our body of knowledge has developed slowly over the years – one article, podcast episode, or email at a time, in retrospect we realize we’ve produced a lot.

College Parent Central now has nearly 800 articles.  That’s a lot of information, and much of it is “evergreen” content.  That means most of our articles cover topics that don’t change – even if some are a few years old. We continue to work to consistently update all of our articles as new or changing information arises. We have nearly 60 book reviews, several reading lists and recommendations for college parents and over 200 holiday and graduation gift suggestions for students. We’ve had nearly 5 million visitors to the College Parent Central website since we began.

In the fall of 2019, we launched the College Parent Central podcast. Dr. Lynn Abrahams, a learning disabilities specialist, has joined me as co-host to share our information in a new format. We have now released 61 episodes and we are still going strong. We’re pleased to have been able to host interviews with some outstanding experts in their fields, including topics such as the First Year Experience, spiritual health and college students, resilience, college success, learning differences in college, student physical and mental health, preventing substance abuse, and college success. You can find the podcast wherever you like to listen to podcasts.

We have introduced an e-book, 60 Practical Tips for Using the High School Years to Prepare Your Student for College Success to help parents take the small steps in high school that can make a difference. We hope to add to our library soon.

We enjoy staying in touch with parents and professionals through our monthly newsletters and index of helpful articles from around the web, as well as occasional emails at important times during the college year. We never share our mail list with others. If you’re not on our list, we hope you’ll consider signing up.

The pandemic has kept us all at home, but we love getting out and talking to parents. We’re beginning to offer in-person parent workshops again.  If you have a group of parents who’d like to learn more about college parenting, please reach out to us. Let’s talk.

In the meantime, we’ll be offering some virtual opportunities to gather soon. Watch for more information in our newsletter and on the website.

Moving forward

 If you’ve read this far, thanks for indulging us in a bit of self-congratulation.

Thirteen years ago, we could not have predicted we’d still be here, still finding new things to learn and share, and still reaching out to more and more parents. We look forward to continuing to connect with and support you as you and your student embark on the college parent journey.

Birthdays sometimes involve gifts. If you’d like to give us a birthday gift, please leave a comment below and tell us a topic you’d like to hear more about – either on the website or in our podcast. We can’t promise we’ll be able to do it all, but we’d like to know what’s on your mind.

Happy April!  Happy spring! Here’s to a healthy 2022!