Portable Parent, an Online Book

A record number of college freshmen are expected in the USA in the fall of 2009. Many will have "helicopter parents", or parents who have been accustomed to very close supervision and contacts with their children.

Portable Parent, a new online book (www.portableparent.com), allows parents to provide the additional information the young adults need as they mature, while the parents stay at a distance. Covering topics from time management to academic tips, the unique book includes short spaces for parents to include their own wisdom.* There's even room for those well-used parental expressions that parents say hundreds of times while children are growing up! Parents are also invited to write a letter on the second page of the book to their children.

Students like Portable Parent because it allows them "instant information" when they are ready for it - even at 2 AM. They want to know topics ranging from how to make family recipes to how to say "no" to drugs and alcohol, which many are under increasing pressure to try at college. The book has many links to provide additional information.

Katie Schwartz, CCC-SLP, the author of the book, owner of Business Speech Improvement and an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, has written three previous books for professionals in the field of speech pathology. While she was writing them, she had her three young children do some of the family laundry. "It taught them valuable skills, kept them busy, and gave me a little time to write," she reported. (Most of the books were written after the children went to bed, though.) The children, however, negotiated for a book "for them".

When Schwartz's oldest child was a high school senior, she realized there was a lot he still needed to learn about life as a young adult. However, he was so busy with high school senior-level classes, after-school activities, a part-time job, college and scholarship applications that there was no time to do more. Schwartz started writing him a book of what she wanted him to know. Two weeks before he started college, she asked him to read it once before he left, and to take it with him. He read it, and gave her a list of many other topics that he wanted included. The chapters were added. Two years later, Schwartz's second child went to college. He was given "the book", in the "second edition". He too read it, and he also asked for additional topics. While the new chapters were added, he showed the book to his friends. They commented that they wished their parents had written such a book for them, and suggested more subjects they wished their parents had talked to them about. Meanwhile, other parents who heard about the book were saying they'd "pay for such a book!"

Before Schwartz's third child went to college, she too was given Portable Parent, and has also found it invaluable. Schwartz's first child is now in his first apartment, so additional sections have been added on leasing and equipping an apartment, job hunting and financial education.

"The book gave me as a parent a way to prepare both the child and myself for his leaving. I felt calmer at the orientation and when we said good-bye, because I knew he had the information he needed," Schwartz reported. "The kids now often go to Portable Parent if they have questions before they contact me. It encourages their independence."

To ORDER your copy of Portable Parent, CLICK HERE.

* This product requires a DSL connection and Adobe Acrobat version 8 or higher to download. Downloads with Windows computers have write-in sections where parents can add their valued input. Downloads with Mac computers currently must print out the book before adding their comments. We apologize for the inconvenience and anticipate adding a Mac version with write-in templates in the near future.