Motherhood & Parenting

Mummy and Baby Groups

Something I shunned for months as I hated the thought of them.  I had horrible visions of bitchy groups of women moaning about their lives and judging other mothers.  Some of my friends shared their bad experiences with me while others encouraged me to go as a way of getting out and socialising.  So with an open mind, I put on my big girl pants and attended a couple of groups.

One awesome thing happened while I was there.  I finally felt reassured that I was doing a good job.  My daughter is not behind or suffering in any way as a result of not being in these groups.  We had not missed a thing.

As I entered the building there was a sea of parents reading papers, books or texting on their phones.  This must have been the amazing social aspect that everyone had been telling me about!!   To the left was the toddler section.  Scary to say the least.  Giant ball pits, slides and monkey bars etc.  The baby section was a slightly more subdued affair.  Two much smaller rooms with crash mats for carpet,  a smaller ball pit and some large foam toys.  In the first room, there were three mums huddled in a group in the corner on their phones while their babies played.  The second room was a sensory section.  Lots of twinkly lights and mirrors and one couple with a tiny baby at the back.  

My daughter enjoyed the sensory section for about 45 minutes then got bored.  She wasn’t interested in the other toys and aside from ‘how old is your little one?‘ and ‘what can she do?’ that was about it for adult conversation.

A common misconception is that all mums in this environment are going to make friends.  Based on what?  You both have a vagina and now you both have a baby?  Wow that’s special!  Most of the people were pleasant, civil and stuck to the same topics of general chat before sprinting to the car park.

Groups are great for some and a source of boredom for others, we were in the latter.  On attending a different group, I was also at a loss.  Here they did not appear to cater for babies despite their advertising.  Therefore my darling girl was once again very bored.  The parents sat around discussing the previous nights TV over lukewarm coffee in polystyrene cups.  I could not even join the conversation as watching TV is a rare occurrence due my daughters aversion to sleeping in the evening!

I guess I just have not found the right group yet.  For me, the search continues…

 

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