Making friends when you’re a new parent can be tough.
But genuine connections can remind you that the challenges you face are normal and make you feel less lonely.
Many of the parents you meet will also feel uncertain and unsure of things, and this can be a reassuring reminder that nobody is perfect.
By relating to other people, you can keep yourself grounded and remind yourself that parenting is not a competition.
Here are some realistic tips on how to make those connections…
Lily: Ready, one, two, three.
Gracey: Action!
Lily: I think with Gracie, because she was our first, I was really besotted with her and I was actually excited to get out and show her off. Because we didn't actually have that many Baby friends.
Reef: Then we met Paris with kids and then some of our other friends had kids. and now everyone's pregnant at the same time.
Lily: So it's nice to give each other advice about different things and to be able to talk to each other and compare our parenting methods and learn from each other. And a lot to laugh about as well, isn't it?
Reef: If something's happening you can speak to them and they're like, oh yeah, we've had that as well.
Lily: Especially if you're having a difficult situation and then you find out that they've had the same sort of thing and it makes you feel less lonely actually in it and it also makes you realise that the behaviour that you see in your child sometimes is really normal and you're like oh I'm so glad Gracie's not the only one that does that, so yeah it's really nice in that way. It's reassuring.
Reef: Am I ever got to get my dinner?
Gracey: Yeah, but it's not ready yet.
Lily: We've always struggled getting Gracie to brush her teeth so we've got lots of different advice from lots of different people like about trying songs, trying standing in the mirror and we just tested all of them out. So it was really nice to get advice about that.
Reef: She does a lot of observing though.
Lily: Yeah, she's very observant.
Reef:There's other kids, especially the older kids, if she did, she'll sit and watch them and just see what they're doing and then she just sort of goes and does her own thing.
Lily: Yeah. I do find that she tries to act a little bit older than she is because she sees how the older children are being rather than the younger children. She's just such a confident girl, she's definitely found her place with her friends and she calls everyone her best friend.
Reef: I'm really proud of her.
Check out local parent groups
A good place to start is by attending a regular group for parents.
This can be a great thing for both you and your child to meet people at a similar life stage.
Children typically imitate others, so these early interactions with other children will build the foundation of their communication and social skills.
Use social media
Social media can help you keep in touch if things get busy, or if you don’t know many people in your area.
There are often parent groups centred around different locations around the UK.
It’s important to remember that social media feeds tend to be full of the best bits and highlights of people’s lives, while other families probably have similar challenges to you behind closed doors.
You can also follow CBeebies Parenting on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
