Feeling Isolated

Oh, you are sooooo not alone! I have to make a coffee date with my best friend (about once a month if we’re lucky) just to have time to talk. It usually starts after 8pm and ends around midnight. We talk non-stop and still never really get to much. I think this is the way of life when you have littles unless you can both get a sitter and have routine time together. It sucks, but I don’t know what else to do either. Just know that you’re not alone in feeling this way!

Honestly, the biggest thing I’ve done is to find new friends.

Sure, I make playdates with my friends who are parents now; and occasionally my husband and I get together with our single friends – usually dinner and games at our house (where we can put the little one to bed at a decent time).

But what keeps my sanity intact is this: I found other stay-at-home moms (of toddlers) in my neighborhood. I can call them up and drop by for an hour or two. Our kids play, we talk (even if it’s only about our kids), and slowly we’ve become friends. They’re not people I probably would have spent much time with otherwise; we don’t have much in common other than location and similarly-aged children. But we DO have the same need for adult interaction, and the same tolerance for interruption… and living close together means that it doesn’t always have to be a major ordeal to see each other.

I stumbled across this while I was looking for advice for this exact problem. I need adult interaction but I live in a small town that doesn’t have baby story time at our library even. 🙁 My husband & I are currently sharing 1 car and that seems to make it worse because I feel trapped as well as isolated. Every time I have tried to find new friends with a mother who has children the same age as my daughter they turn out to be less than desirable (drugs & alcohol + kids…blegh). I just want to move and hopefully find people who can talk sober while our kids play. 🙁

You are not alone. I feel the same way – isolated. I live in a small town and I don’t know anyone here. My husband works and then has night school so my 2 year old daughter and I are here all day. Sometimes we go to playgroups, mcdonalds or the park but I still feel lonely. I have lost touch with some old friends and it’s really hard to find new friends that I can trust or have anything in common with. I will keep trying to meet new friends but I guess that’s all I can do.