When you become a mum, and life changes, quite dramatically (in a good, if somewhat tiring way) it can be hard, sometimes to find friends or maintain friendships. If you are one of the only of your friendship group that has children, or your friends kids are much older, it can be hard to keep up. Also, parenthood, especially in the early days, can be challenging, new routines, a new little person to run around after and learn to look after, and life is very different.
It can be incredibly lonely and isolating, being a parent. I know, this from my own experience. One of the many reasons I started the groups that I now run, is because I found there was very little for parents of children my age, where I live, and also because I felt that some of the friendships I had were changing and that I wasn’t able to maintain things the way I had before my babies arrived. My single or non parent friends would be going out late, to parties or events, or wanting to go on long weekends away to places that weren’t always that child friendly, and my friends with older children were in a different place, although sympathetic to where I was at. I was lucky to have a small group of friends from our ante natal class, that I still have now, and am very grateful for, but I think I can say that generally, friendship, when children come along, is definitely harder to “do”. I also found that my friendships suffered when we were struggling with Little Man’s sleep issues, mainly my own fault for not being as good a friend as I could be, whilst struggling to deal with what was happening and lack of sleep, and I know for parents with children with health issues or disabilities, parenting can be a very lonely journey. Meeting others who are going through similar things to you, who can relate and know how you feel, is very hard.
New friendships can also be hard, if you have just moved to a new area, or have been working and not really met anyone else with children, before you had your own.
That’s where Mum Amie comes in. It’s something I had never heard of, but I think is a fantastic idea….
It’s basically a website, where you register, plug in your details, the area you live, to create a profile, and it comes up with and finds local mum’s similar to you, to meet up with and hopefully form friendships with. In the words of a famous meerkat off the tv… “seemples”. 😉
“Mum Amie is a meet a mum website, created by lifelong friends Aimee Foster and Gemma Dorsett. Our aim is to make it easier for mums to meet other mums for friendship, advice and support.”
It’s incredibly easy to use, and is such a simple but creative idea. In this day and age, with digital and internet everything, it’s a great way to meet other mums in your area, to get together with, and ideal for new mums and even mums who are finding life has changed with their kids growing up, to meet new friends.
So, if you think you might want to give it a try, I would definitely recommend it. You never know, you might meet someone who will end up being a really good friend….
I can definitely relate with that new mum loneliness, the impact of motherhood on existing friendships, and the delight of making mummy friends. Mum Amie seems like a very good concept that can reduce the length of the loneliness one goes through by making it easier to find new friends in similar situations.
Thanks for sharing about them.
What a great idea! Luckily now I have a great group of friends but when I first moved to where I live now this could have came in really handy! I had 3 long years where I had no local friends x
I wish I could not agree with you! Maintaining some of frendships was almost impossible after arriving my daughter. I felt like I have to start social life from the beginning. And then for the second time after moving abroad. It’s good that somebody came with an idea you write about!