Quench Your Need for Adult Interaction

Being a mom can be lonely, which is ironic since you’re never actually alone.  Whether you stay at home or work, it can still be extremely difficult to build lasting relationships with people your own age. 

We can also become quite isolated.  I often joke that unless they start play news excerpts during Dora the Explorer, I’d be clueless as to what’s going on in the world.  It’s just funny how as moms we can be so clued into our kids that we can often miss the world passing by us.

I think this is one of the reasons that playgroups are so important to me.  Not only do my kids have an outlet for their pent up energy, but I get instant conversation with adults about adult like things.  And it makes a difference.

I belong to a local group I started about a year and a half ago, More than Moms, but there are several around the area.  When I started this group I was desperate for social interaction.  We’d just moved to Catonsville and I was pregnant with my third.  For sanity’s sake, I needed girlfriends.

So I sent an email out to a few of my friends that used to get together every couple of weeks for a play-date, and I said that I wanted to expand the scope a bit, be more purposeful in how we impact each other’s lives.  Someone suggested a site called Meetup.com.  At the time I’d never heard of it, but it seemed like an easier way to organize events than Evite.

Little did I know that Meetup automatically sent new groups out to thousands of interested parties around the region. Oops!  Whatever vision I had for this new group had just changed dramatically.  Moms from Catonsville, Arbutus and Ellicott City started joining More than Moms, and I’m so glad they did. 

It might not have been my vision, but it certainly was the better one.  We started out as strangers and now we’re more like a family, a support network.  We have fifty shoulders to cry on, to laugh with, to bounce ideas off, and to ask for advice.  I have fellow moms that I know are in the trenches with me.  Either they’ve been where I am or they will be.  What a rich environment for growth? 

Believe it or not, it gets even better.  Recently we began the process of becoming a nonprofit organization.  Wait a sec, we’re just a bunch of moms that get our kids together to play, right?  That’s how it started, yes.  However, then these conversations started popping up all around us, conversations like; how can we pool our resources and impact the community around us.  How can we empower other moms to reach their goals in life? 

I have to say that watching these women walk through this process has been nothing short of an inspiration for me.  It’s like a team building exercise on crack.  To see these moms grasp a vision so ardently and run with it, literally blows my socks off. I just had to share it with you. 

If you're anything like I was a year and a half ago, desperate for adult interaction, reach out to one of the mom’s groups around Catonsville and at least try it out.  You could like date them for a bit until you find the perfect fit. I know there’s PATH (Parents at Home) and Catonsville Mom’s Group, as well as More than Moms. 

If you're invoved in a group either listed above or one I forgot, feel free to list the information in the comment section so other moms can find them.

Not every group fits everyone, but I’m willing to bet that you’d find a home in at least one.