Joining a Mom group

I remember a time before I joined the neighborhood parent group.  Those dark days when I thought it might be silly to join an email list-serve (that, and our group actually charges a nominal joining fee).

What was I thinking?

I honestly don't know how we would have survived the last 4 months without our mom group.  I say four months because we had help from family the first month of Cupcake's life.  And I was still recovering from the c-section and getting my bearings with this whole parenting thing, so I was in no condition to socialize anyway.  Since we joined we are now part of a community, we interact with other moms and babies, we exchange parenting advice, we laugh and cry together, and mostly, it's an excuse to get out of the house.  It's a reference point.  I joke to Nate that those are my work meetings, and them my co-workers.  It makes sense if you see parenting as a job (though underpaid, under-appreciated, and much more rewarding), so these outings are part of the social interaction would happen at every office.

Not that I'm preaching, but every new mom (specially those that aren't back at work) should join a mom group.  Yes, I thought it might be silly too.  But then I realized that when I first moved to NYC, I joined a volleyball team with the intention of making new friends through a common interest.  And I made some wonderful friends there.  So really, why shouldn't I join a group where we had the new-parent aspect in common.

Now our schedules are full.  Mondays it's one coffee shop,Tuesdays another, Wednesdays play-dates at rotating houses, Thursday's free, and Fridays a nearby cafe.  There have even been brunch outings on the weekends.  These outings fill our days and add a sense of structure to our week.  And all this through the worst of winter, so I can't wait to see how active we'll be now that the weather is getting nicer.