Hellobee Boards

We have class Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and a standing playdate on Friday afternoons. We also often get together Tuesday afternoons with other babies. So those days I always see friends and their babies. Mondays and Wednesdays, we always techincally have interactions at the park with other parents, but I don't always see people I know, so it's not the same.

That was hard in the beginning, but it gets way easier once LO can talk and being with him is social in and of itself! Just getting out of the ohsue is really helpful in the beginning, even if you're walking by yourself. And often a cute newborn will help strike up a conversation with random people

I had a lot of anxiety that first winter and I couldn't get the nap schedule to a place where I could leave the house for more than an hour at a time, so I didn't really make a lot of plans until my son was about 4 months old. Then, I'd do one "big" thing a week, I couldn't handle more than that and I am normally a very social person.

This is why I personally am very resistant to moving to the suburbs. I need to see people every day and sometimes, especially in the early days, the only interactions I had were with a grocery store clerk or gardener. Just going for a walk outside was enough though. As they have gotten older I like to have our week a little more planned out. I find that having things scheduled helps us leave the house more efficiently and have something to look forward to.

Does hanging out with family count as social interaction?

Because if that's the case, then we have some sort of interaction (family, friends, playdates, classes, church) 7 days a week!

HOWEVER, I have a 10-month old and a 2.5-year old. We were not out that much when they were younger. My DD2 is a November baby and there was so much sickness going around when she was a newbie.... we were definitely homebodies.

The first 6 months with my kiddo, I was too exhausted to be very social. I am pretty introverted, but I do need daily human interaction not to get depressed.

I realized how much better I felt when I interacted with my husband's co-workers when we visited him at work, and started making a point to get out of the house at least once a day. I knew I'd never get errands done like I used to prior to having kids, so spreading out errands throughout the week and accomplishing one or two a day was a good balance. Also even though he was too small to appreciate it, we got annual passes for the zoo, aquarium, and butterfly garden. Going to one or two a week got me out of the house and kept me from spending too much money shopping

I took 4 months of maternity leave and started working part-time because I needed that adult interaction to stay happy. Even if it was simple tasks like editing and filing, I felt much more recharged afterwards. Working part-time is the right balance for me personally, I appreciate the time I spend in both worlds that much more.

Between cold/flu season, exhaustion and nap schedules, I didn't leave the house much for the first six months. But after that I joined our local Y, which had free childcare and gave me some outside interaction. Last winter was still pretty rough, but we started swim lessons, music class and story time at the library. I now structure our week to have an activity most mornings, or an errand day. That way we aren't stuck in the house the whole time! As DD has gotten older, she clearly wants to be out and about most days, so I've had to get creative to keep us moving. My homebody nature would love to stay home, but she is all extrovert