Upon first blush, becoming a stay at home mom seems like the most ideal thing in the world! You get to spend all day with your child, nurturing them, guiding them, teaching them everything. You also see every moment (well, almost) of their life. What is missing from the equation is that while you are at home with your child, all your other mommy friends (and frankly, every friend and former co-worker) are working every day! So that leaves friends who are on maternity leave, but for me, that means friends with a child who is a year younger than mine.
This was a rather unexpected turn of events when I became unemployed at the end of my maternity leave! We decided to give it a go with me staying at home, but I really didn’t realize that pretty much every other person I knew would be busy during the day. And given that’s when I do most things now, my social life has become rather… dull.
So, what’s a person to do? There’s only so many days of playground fun before you feel the need to have some adult conversation beyond “hi” and “how old is he/she?”. I have some playgroups I go to, but currently naptime seriously interferes with the time of the one I’ve been going to. It’s really too bad, because the one I go to is free and gets my little one interaction with other kids. I’ve only managed to go for an hour to an hour and half before we have to escape for naptime.
I’ve been looking at pay playgroups and activities. They seem expensive though! Although, ANYTHING seems expensive after free! The programs offered around the City do seem good though. A structured playtime with set activities and with kids around the same age. And there’s always the library programs, although I’ve never yet been able to snag more than a 1 day event because they book up the day the programs become available. I’m hoping the library programs are slightly more available because most parents have gone back to work.
I guess I’m going to have to suck it up and actually go to a playgroup that you pay for. It will be more structured and actually have paid activities. I have the best intentions to do this at home, but never have quite gotten around to it. Given that “Mom” is currently my job title, I maybe should think about it just to make life more predictable for the little one.
And going to playgroups should give me a new circle of friends that are available during the daytime. After all, a girl does need a friend! I guess I shouldn’t have been so naive that I would have some friends available. Thank goodness for e-mail and Facebook! It totally keeps me in touch with people no matter what their schedule. Next: book some playgroups so I can get to know other moms and the little one can play with kids her age…
I swear, this is the hardest thing about staying home. Have you tried meetup.com? There may be some playgroups for moms and babies in your area there….and they’re usually free!
Hope that helps!
Yes, I’ve tried it with limited success. I think the hardest part is meeting other people with a child you have to pay attention to pretty much your kid most of the time as opposed to other parents.
I just keep trying though! I signed us up for a paid playgroup so that should have better success. Same parents/kids week after week for four months. Hopefully a good recipe for meeting other parents. How are you doing it?