Mary Dell Harrington & Lisa Heffernan
Grown and Flown
The definitive resource for sending kids to college and navigating the empty nest
Grown and Flown earns the top spot in this category for the same reason it tops the teen parenting list: the combination of authentic voice, genuine depth, and sheer consistency is unmatched. Co-founders Mary Dell Harrington and Lisa Heffernan have been writing about the college years since 2013 — long enough to have covered every dimension of the transition, from the logistics of move-in weekend to the longer emotional work of reconfiguring a family identity when a child leaves home. For parents in the year leading up to college, the year their child is gone, and the years after, this is the resource they will return to most.
✓ Pros
- Covers the emotional arc of the college transition with a honesty that clinical parenting blogs avoid — the grief of drop-off day, the identity shift of the empty nest, the joy and terror of watching your child become an adult
- Practical college logistics — what to pack, how to communicate, when to step back — are covered as thoroughly as the emotional content
- The 1M+ Facebook community is the best peer support network for college parents anywhere on the internet
✕ Cons
- Financial aid and college cost coverage, while present, is not the blog's primary strength — parents who need deep financial guidance should pair this with a specialist resource
- The volume of content is enormous, and there's no structured curriculum — parents of incoming freshmen may not know where to start