Making new “mom friends” is exactly like dating
You guys, I made my first play date phone number exchange EVER last week. How I managed to avoid it for the past 3 years of Bean’s life, I don’t know, but I finally DID IT!
It started a few weeks back at pick-up time. Bean’s class is dismissed one kid at a time. After I picked her up and started making my way to the door, I was met with a warm, “Are you Bean’s mom? (un-named child) can’t stop talking about her!” Can you imagine how overjoyed I was to hear that my separation anxiety-stricken child had a friend?! I was caught so off guard that I barely remembered to introduce myself. Needless to say, phone numbers were not exchanged, and it was weeks before I saw my future best friend, I mean, Bean’s friend’s mom, again.
Last week was the preschool Parent Party. My husband was unable to attend as it was held during the day, so I invited my Mom to come along. A few minutes into the event, I spotted Bean’s friend. And would you know it, her mom was wearing plaid (just like I was, of course). Could we be more perfect for each other? I played it cool.
Then came snack time. I could tell that my mom didn’t want to butt-in, but also wanted to nudge me towards the other mom by the way that she “subtly” suggested that we sit at the table that said mom’s baby carrier was sitting on. I took the hint.
After we all sat down (Oh, look! Bean’s sitting by her favorite friend from school! What are the odds?) and had some small talk, I made the plunge. “You know, I thought it would be a good idea to exchange numbers so that we can have a play date with the girls sometime…” I entered my new best friend, I mean, Bean’s playmate’s mom’s number into my phone with shaking fingers. Bingo. Now I only hope that in the haze of my excitement I got the number right.
I’m sure you’ve already heard the comparison between finding “mom friends” and dating. I’m here to tell you it is absolutely 100% true. Making “mom friends” is, in my opinion, even more awkward than dating. It is in fact 10x more awkward. Why haven’t they come up with an internet dating site for mom friends? Someone better get on that.
*UPDATE: Somebody did get on it. It’s called HelloMamas. Ever heard of it? Neither had I until about a minute ago. Hmmmm…
I applaud you for taking the plunge! Making mom friends is scary to me, which is probably why I haven't done it yet.
I feel so dumb being intimidated by it, but it is such a scary thing! And awkward. So awkward.
I'm not a mom or even close to one but I loved this post. I feel like making any friends at all is hard or at least after college when all my friends have moved away. There should definitely be apps for making friends!
Oh my gosh – I would TOTALLY sign up for the “mom friends” dating website! I kind of thought of the Mother's clubs I joined like that, but there were not enough one-on-one occasions OR I just didn't hit it off with anyone (they were okay for groups, but I couldn't see myself committing to a relationship with them…yes, it is more awkward than dating).
Yes, I agree! Meeting and making friends gets more and more tough the older you get.
That's what I didn't like about the mom's clubs, it wasn't one on one and more times than not the group was so clique-y and established I didn't want to go anywhere near them. I JUST found a site called Mom Meet Mom, and it literally looks like a mom friend dating website lol I'm curious.
I'm in the same boat, I never expected that making mom friends would be so hard! But I don't lose hope, I know somewhere out there there's a perfect mom waiting to be my friend ??!
That's right, somewhere out there our mom best friend is just waiting to be found 🙂