Being a stay-at-home parent can get monotonous and downright depressing. What else does one have to look forward to every day besides taking care of kids, cleaning, cooking, laundry? And what about the kids? They need interaction as much as adults do, if not more.

Working full time for many stay-at-home parents just doesn’t make sense. Some choose to stay home, because they believe that child develops better at home, others just don’t want to bother due to high daycare costs. If you have only one, it’s tolerable, but once the second one pops, usually half or more of your monthly paycheck goes to daycare! Whatever the reason is, it’s not an excuse to pout.

So what do we do? We connect!

I am so glad that I joined local mommies’ group for active toddlers. I found this group through meetup.com (what would we do without the internet?) The group is very active. What I really like is that they post a variety of local events and places to meet. Just in this short time, I learned so much more about my community, like free kids’ activities offered at the local libraries and community centers. I learned about cool local playgrounds and parks I can take my daughter to. Finding all these places made me appreciate my local community more. And the most important thing is, we connected with other parents and kids!

I found that having my own interaction with mommies is just as important has having my daughter interact with other kids. Having conversations with a two-year old all day is great, but sometimes I just want to talk to an adult! Just the other day I learned about a diaper cream that cured a rash that stuck around for days. By talking to other moms, I avoided a trip to the doctor.

I recommend to all SAHMs and SAHDs to join your local playgroups. Go to meetup.com or check out your community’s bulletin board. If you don’t see one, start your own! Meetup.com charges the organizer, but you can find local sponsors to sponsor your group, who’s name will be displayed next to your group’s events. Or posting a note on your community’s bulletin board is usually free.

Happy connections!