We’ve all heard the nightmare stories that surround Mothers Groups. Perfectionist women in designer gym gear and pristine makeup, genius children developed well beyond their age group and competitive mothers comparing their amazing children with other not so gifted kids (ok, I don’t know if these are stereotypes or my own worst nightmares, but you get the drift). Despite the potential disasters, I’ve been on the hunt for a local Mothers group for a few days now. I’m searching for a few nice, friendly ladies with children I can catch up with while my regular friends are at work. Easy!
After spending a good part of my day googling ‘Mothers Groups Brisbane’, trawling through websites and reviewing what each group offers (i.e. where it’s located, why they where started and what interests the members share etc...) I feel like I’m signing up to a dating service ready to pimp E and I out for a good time not a long time.
Profile after profile, each group is put through my mental checklist, which I seem to make up as I go along. Are the women the right age group, do they meet close to home, do the Mums look approachable, chatty and welcoming, how old are the children and would E like any of them? I read with interest what other Mums do for a living, what they enjoy to do with their time off and what they usually like to do with their kids.
I’m literally judging a book by its cover then selling myself in the same way in a vein attempt to woo my potential new friends with wit and intelligence just to be approved to join their group... I’ve never been so nervous. Do other Mums put themselves through this rigmarole? Should finding like minded Mums to play with be this hard? If only I went through a similar process with a few ex-boyfriends I might have saved a lot of time!
After careful consideration (and listening to my general intuition) I’ve decided to join one group of women who seem delightful. The organiser is of a similar age, other members are all professionals on maternity leave and the group is relatively new so I won’t be walking into well established friendship circles.
Our first date, sorry I mean catch-up, is next week. Fingers crossed it all goes well and I find some lovely Mums to chat to and E makes a friend too. Now...what will I wear?
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