Initially I came to CC seeking college admissions advice for my kids. After their acceptances I continued on CC for a few years offering help to kids and parents, mostly regarding athletic recruiting.
Then I migrated to the Parents Forum, and finally to the Parent Cafe, which I now check in on almost daily. Sometimes I’ll drift away for months at a time, only to return.
I don’t do Facebook , so this is the extent of my social networking.
It’s strange; it’s mostly anonymous, although I do know a few CC members in real life.
I’m here because I truly feel a sense of community. After all, initially we all came here for the same reason, and we have a lot in common: smart, witty, educated, and helpful.
I liked the college research and find it interesting to still read, though I can’t be of much help to anyone. It’s a fairly active forum to kill a little time on. And when there are updates for Class of 2019, I like to see what the others are doing.
Because everyone here indulges my food topic posts.
Definitely the community. Many like minded people and many people who are interesting enough to expand my mind.
The tips, the buys, the fashion, the debate, the media posts, the tv posts, the ability to pop in and out throughout the day. A connection during Covid times and an educational place at that time too. Support during transition times like sending kids to college, family illness, losing loved ones, retirement, etc.
To be honest, I sometimes forget the purpose of the board is NOT for the cafe!
After obsessing over my children I’ve moved on to obsessing over retirement! I enjoy the Parent Cafe posts about retirement, downsizing, and empty nesting.
My reasons are pretty much the same as @sherpa’s. I signed up to join the conversations on the prep school forums in 2011 and have been here ever since. My 14-year-old is now 27 and married, so I’ve moved here to the main Parent Cafe almost exclusively. I’ve seen so many posters come and go over the years, mostly once their students have either chosen or graduated from a school, but I’ve found real community here and several IRL friendships. I’ve tried to leave several times, but I’ve woven too much of myself into the CC fabric, and I just can’t leave the voices here even if they don’t know who they are and how much I enjoy them. I’m looking forward to the Maine meetup to put more faces to avatars and make some new IRL friends. CC becomes less and less virtual to me.
I keep saying it’s time to go, but then I learn about the life-changing Instant Pot, how much I need to retire (and when), which movies to watch/books to read, how to purge my house a bag at a time, and how badly dressed I am, so how can I leave this special place that enables me to get it off my chest and brag without repercussion? My kid thinks this site is full of possible serial killers and rolls his eyes every time I mention CC, but I feel pretty safe here and have no current plans to leave.
Another reason I stay is because such a large chunk of my life is recorded here. Do any of you ever think about all you’ve woven in snips here over the years? I mused about this on one of the prep forum threads not too long ago:
So, on another thread, I was using the search function for a previous post of mine so I could reduce typing, and it occurred to me as I scanned the results that CC has become a memoir of sorts. Besides e-mail and the service academy forum, CC is my only social media outlet, and I have been wandering through hundreds of conversations about boarding school, college, retirement, aging, books, movies, home improvement, food, cocktails, kitchen appliances, my kid, my mother-in-law, the Army, and life in general here for thirteen years. On an almost daily basis, in words and pictures, I have rambled, bragged, ranted, cried, chided, poked fun, encouraged, laughed (mostly), exaggerated, minimized, and documented over a decade of my thoughts, observations, and our family experiences.
Mostly, my posts have formed a permanent record of our son becoming an adult and what that has meant and looked like to him and to us as we’ve navigated these special years. The random list of hits on my search brought up a long ago post where I jokingly referred to him as ChoatieToddler, and that made me realize that he has morphed from ChoatieKid to ChoatieCadet to ChoatieLT to ChoatieCPT on this forum, and I have gone from mom to observer, just a welcome guest in his married life now. I’ve posted my feelings about that transition, too.
So, this morning, I’m thinking about what an immutable record I’ve unintentionally forged here. Thousands of posts comprise a picture of me left nowhere else. In some ways, I fear this electronic legacy where I’ve been more honest than prudent at times. And I wonder if there will ever come a time when my son will have a need to seek his mother’s online voice. For better or worse, he knows where ChoatieMom lives.
I came for guidance with D’s college search. I had worked in financial aid in the 80’s, so I began to research answers to the financial aid questions being asked. I ended up getting a job in financial aid (my return to full time employment gig after more than 19 years as a SAHM). I really enjoyed helping students and parents with their financial aid issues, so I stayed on CC after both kids were done with school. I grew to value the parent community as a source of great information about things that interest me. I even jumped into the politics forum … I don’t discuss politics IRL, so it fills a need for me.
I stay on CC because y’all are awesome. I get such good insights from the hive.
I am almost exclusively in the Parent Cafe these days and remain here because I find you knuckleheads to be an endless source of amusement and information about a variety of things. I like the mostly anonymous nature of my posts as opposed to FB.
I purposely stay off the politics forum even though I am quite active politically IRL. This is my stress-free, online space to pass the time. If I want strife and political sparring I’ll call an in-law. Besides, I have a feeling I like some of you more than I would if I knew your politics.
Similar to others - I started here in 2009 with a HS senior and stayed through her college and my younger child’s HS years. By that time I felt a connection with many people and enjoyed the cafe so much, I stayed.
