Building Your Parenting Community in the Bay Area

Community brings us together and helps us feel a part of something. There are many different kinds of communities that we may be a part of at different phases of our lives, today we are here to talk about parenting communities and building your parenting community in the Bay Area.

Why is community important?

Community is the foundation of human interactions. Without community and the people in our lives, who would we celebrate the joy, hardships, and other things that life throws our way? Community gives us a feeling of belonging and social connection. Over time, the communities we want to be a part of or feel like we may belong to can change. This especially rings true during parenthood. Parenthood brings a new sense of self to many. During the fundamental parenting years, raising your kids will likely be a huge priority in life. So, having a community of other parents can be great.

Building your parenting community

While building a parenting community, it is crucial to think about what your goals for these new connections may be. It could be that you’d like new friends with similar values in parenthood to have playdates, dinners, and adventures with. Maybe you would like to raise your little one with a friend and are looking for a family to participate in a nanny share with. Or, it is possible that you have considered finding another family to trade date nights with. These are just a few of the many different examples in which community can come into play in your parenting journey.

How do you find your parenting community?

Do you remember making your first friend? Possibly in kindergarten or younger. You most likely both enjoyed playing on the jungle gym or maybe you shared a mutual interest in the color blue. Making friends seemed so easy as children, but can steadily get harder as we get older. This may be because generally as we get older we become more guarded, but it also has to do with the amount of exposure to new activities that we enjoy typically lessens as adults.

Just like when we are children, adults typically gravitate towards others with similar interests and values. There are so many different ways to meet people, but as adults, we need to seek these new connections out a lot harder than a child just going to daycare does

Meet other new parents in your area.

Our best advice for finding friends that are new parents as well and beginning to build your community is to engage in activities that other new parents may be doing as well. Some ideas that we have are:

Try a baby and parent class-

An interactive in-person class for both babies and parents can be a great way to meet new people. Some classes that we recommend are baby music classes, mommy ( or parent) and me yoga classes, and baby swim lessons.

Nanny shares can greatly benefit everyone in the family. For one, your little will get to grow and learn alongside another child their age. Another benefit is that nanny shares cost affective as each family splits the cost, so many families find they can get a nanny of a higher caliber for less money. Why we are talking about nanny shares in this post is the amount of community and connection that they can bring to two families. Oftentimes when families do a nanny share together they become close and will bond lifelong friendships. It is important to add that ensuring that your parenting philosophies and expectations match up ahead of time is crucial for the success of this kind of childcare.

Get on Facebook-

Yes we know, being glued to Facebook may not be a favorite thing, but Facebook really can be a great place to meet people! Try to join a local mom’s group, we personally run two, Santa Cruz Pregnancy and Postpartum, and Bay Area Pregnancy and Postpartum. Join us!

There are many different ways to make connections and build your parenting community, we hope you enjoyed some of our suggestions. If you are still getting in the swing of having a newborn at home and are wanting more connection and community, but feel you don’t have the time to do so yet, that’s okay too! It will happen, and you will find your people.

Thank you for reading this weeks’ blog ” Building your parenting community in the Bay Area.” For more tips and tricks on all things pregnancy,postpartum, and parenthood visit our weekly blog.