My husband is always sending me links to houses he wants to move to. Nine times out of ten they are miles away from our current house, which means the kids would need to change school and I would lose my much needed and relied on “Mum friends”. I worry that now the kids are ( mostly ) older and there’s not as much time at the school gates it would be harder to make friends. The kids changed school locally almost two years ago and I’ve only really made friends with my youngest daughter’s class parents, mostly because in the older year groups kids walk home so the parents just aren’t around.
The friends I spent time with have definitely changed and evolved over the years. When I first had Zak it was the antenatal Mums I was closest too, but as people started to go back to work, we saw each other less and then once the kids went off to different schools we hardly ever saw each other. I made friends at various preschool classes and while I have maintained those friendships, once school started it became the class Mums who I saw most often. I have come to realise that it’s actually quite hard to maintain friendships, but is so important. Thanks to facebook I am in touch with lots of school and college friends, but without online interaction I wouldn’t have that valuable connection.
Since having children I have probably been the world’s worst friend to most of my older friends, I just never have time to pick up the phone ( I’m also more of a texter than a talker ) and our weekends are so full of kid commitments it’s very difficult to spent quality time with anyone.
I try to remember birthdays, but have even lapsed there recently. Many, many times I have sent flowers and chocolate boxes weeks after an actual birthday, but it’s the thought that counts right?
My resolution this school year is to spend more time with friends I have lost touch with, again having a toddler when most of my friends have older kids make that a bit tricky in the day time, but maybe I just need to head to the pub in the evening a bit more. How hard can it be?
I’ve also come to realise that raising kids is HARD and having a village of friends around to help is invaluable and vital for my sanity, especially as I work from home. As my kids have grown older and the number of clubs has intensified I’ve had to ask for help with lifts which is something that took me a long time to do, but you know what, it really helps!! I’m a big fan of the lift share these days!
How do you stay in contact with friends?
Collaborative Post
Leave a Reply