Mom Friends

I love the friends that I'm blessed to have in my life.  I have friends who are single and friends who are married but don't have any kids yet.  They provide a prospective on my life and my parenting skills that open my eyes to things I don't think about.

But there's just something about having mom friends.

Most of my mom friends have kids who are older than 2.0 or have more than one child and the second child may be younger than 2.0 is.  Some are single moms, some are married.  Some have kids close in age (barely a year apart!) and some have kids who are a few years apart.  Some are stay at home moms like I am and some are working moms.  Some are my age (or close to my age), some are older and some are younger than I am.  But they all are limitless fonts of information.

I've watched my mom friends soothe a crying baby with little to no effort.  I've seen them wrangle toddlers and preschool age kids without raising their voice.  I've seem them find things for their young kids to do that don't involve television.  I've seem them handle a temper tantrum with ease.  I've whined about sleepless nights (oh there have been sooooo many) and been warned that the nights of sleep are so completely over.  I've listened to remedies for colds and upset tummies and diaper rash.  I've talked with them about home schooling and reading and when to toilet train.

Every mom on the face of the earth needs mom friends.  Moms need a friendly face that will smile when you gush over how cool it is to see your infant roll over onto his tummy.  We need an understanding ear when we don't know how to handle colicky babies or just how long we are supposed to microwave the whole milk for our toddler to drink it.

My best mom friend is actually my mom.  She tells me stories of how she handled me as a baby (apparently I was a little difficult) and she listens when I don't know what to do.  I also have a message board I read often and post on to help out the other moms who don't know what to do when (fill in the blank) happens.

If you need mom friends, I suggest going to the library during story time.  They are all over the place.  Or try your local church.  A lot of my mom friends (or just friends in general) attend my church.  Ask around or post on a local message board.  But don't try to go it alone.  A mom cannot be an island.