Queen of Rambles

I have officially entered the world of mommy playgroups. Someone come and save me.

I put my toe in the waters a few weeks ago and joined up a free Maryland e-mail list that was based around this area. It was a little strange because even though the list was several months old there had never been any real life interactions. I found that incredibly odd since we all live in the same town, more or less.

Another lady and myself set up a meeting but we were the only two whoshowed up even though several other people expressed interest. We’ve been meeting up weekly since that time and walking around the mall. I don’t want to say too much about it since this journal is public, but I really like this lady a lot and think we can develop a nice friendship. She’s down to earth, casual, interesting and fun. All the things I like in a new friend. She has had some off-putting experiences with the mommy groups in the area, which is something I can relate to. When I was searching the ‘net for mother’s groups I came across all kinds of Judgy McJudgersons that only allowed certain types of women to join in the fun. Natural birth (honestly, the birth is the least part of parenting. Basing a whole group on how you gave birth seems ridiculous), breastfeeding, certain zipcodes, certain income levels (that’s how the dues only groups feel to me). All these groups imply judgment and I don’t like judgement. I just want to get out of the house and have some human interaction. I don’t particularly care about the parenting choices other people make as long as they aren’t keeping their kids locked up in cages or using their family pets as babysitters.

Last week another mother on the e-mail list decided to push for a playgroup and she got some responses. My new friend and I showed up at the appointed time and couldn’t find anyone else that seemed to be looking for a group of strangers. Finally the person who organized it showed up a half hour late (understandable when you have a little one) and that was our whole group.

Was it fun?

Not really. Three mothers does not a playgroup make.

My friend and I sat on the benches of the mall play area with our little babies while the other mom chased her son around the play area. I don’t blame the other mom at all. There were a ton of kids (at least 30) and it would not be safe to let your little tyke wander alone. I witnessed random bitings, hitting, kicking, tackling and so forth.

The organizer suggested that instead of meeting up at a play area we should meet up in each other’s homes. My new friend and I kind of looked at each other and smiled fakety-fake smiles. We had discussed this previously and decided that neither of us had child-friendly homes. We don’t have toys for older kids and neither of us have a lot of room for lots of guests. Honestly, after watching the new lady’s little boy run hog wild I am not sure I want to invite strange children into my home. She said he was just having a bad day, but he was hitting her and running out of the play area every five minutes. I can just imagine that kind of child jumping on my furniture, drawing on my walls and pulling down my curtains. I know I have to be prepared for some of that in the future, but I’m not ready for it yet.

I’m afraid I’ve become a Judgy McJudgerson.

I’m not cut out for mommy meetings and playgroups.

I’m not cut out for little kids with no reasoning powers or self-control. Where’s a principal’s office when I need one?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 8th, 2006 at 5:47 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.