What if we made friends like our Littles??
February was the looooongest month ever!!! Am I right Minnesotans!?! It’s been frigid, we got over 30 inches of snow and it is in the middle of cold season. Parenting has been ROUGH during the daytime. It is too cold to go outside, most play areas are covered in germs and it has been lonely. I have found myself saying the same things 100 times a day which makes me feel like I am going crazy. I crave adult interaction where I don’t have to tell someone 17 times to throw their fruit snack wrapper in the garbage. At least most mommas I hang out with don’t need the reminder. :)
After yelling rather loudly at Em and Att for running around the house with their shoes on (they know this is not allowed) I knew we needed to get out of the house ASAP...for my sanity and for theirs.
So, we went to a play place. We have a winter membership to a place that is super close and it has enough for the littles to do to keep them entertained for at least an hour. Emmett always runs straight to the costume area to find the police or firefighter costume and puts it on. Priorities right? We were there about two minutes before Emmett found another boy who was wearing a Police costume like him. The other boy, Hudson, asked Emmett what his name was, they exchanged names and immediately ran off to play police and bad guys. That was it. They literally ran all around, playing and laughing together after knowing each other for roughly five minutes.
Now me on the other hand, the momma craving adult interaction, did not have the same luck. I looked around in wonder as all the mommas at the play place were focused on their littles and rarely making eye contact with other mommas. Why is this? Why don’t we chat with each other? Are we scared? Are we antisocial? Am I the only one who wants to make a friend? Half the reason I go out in public is to have adult interaction, to connect with other people and know that I am not the only one that had to change five poopy diapers before 8am and that they also have a child that throws herself on the floor because you put the wrong snack top on the snack cup. There is SO much comfort in feeling that we are in this together, because sometimes staying at home with the littles can be lonely even when you aren’t ever alone.
So, back to my original question...why don’t we make friends like our littles? Think of how amazing it would be if we saw a mom whose little was having an epic meltdown over having to take their shoes off and instead of walking by, we smiled and said something comforting. I know that there are mommas out there that do that but what if we ALL did. What if we acted more like our littles and gave compliments freely and became friends in a few minutes. My challenge to you is this, next time you see a momma out and about...talk to her, give her a compliment, or just commiserate over this dreadfully long winter...you never know, you might have just made a lifelong momma friend.