Wednesday, November 5, 2014

My First "Meetup" Group Experience


            Hey folks! In case you're not familiar with Meetup.com, it is a website where you can find and join all kinds of local interest groups. There are a broad range of groups in any given area, ranging from hikers to social meetups, moms groups to like-minded religious/spiritualist path meetups. Perhaps the best part of this site? If you can't find a local group that fits your needs, you can create your own!
            After researching some alternative teaching philosophies awhile ago, I somehow came across a group in Indy that is into Waldorf education, which was one of the main ones I was interested in learning more about. Score! Now that we live closer to Indianapolis and are (mostly) settled from moving, I decided to get on Meetup and see what kind of meetings they had coming up. Plus, we definitely need to start getting out of the house more!
            Overall the experience was...interesting. It wasn't bad, but I feel like it could have been better, although I didn't really know what to expect. While I am definitely going to start making more of an effort to get out and socialize (mostly for Myka's sake), I'm still not a fan of meeting new people. It was never really my favorite things in the world, but my years of "hermitism" has made me even more awkward.
            Myka and I both enjoyed the nature walk best and she REALLY enjoyed the songs the other moms sang because they had hand motions and whatnot, kind of like what we used to do at Baby Steps at the library in Arkansas...except the songs were more nature related. :)
            I quickly found out that most of the other women who went to the meeting are really into the vegan, non-GMO, organic type diet just from the shared snacks that they brought. To each their own, I do try to eat better myself, but let's just say I wasn't heart-broken when Myka accidentally dropped one of the muffins on the ground.
            Myka didn't interact with the other kids as much as I had hoped, but she did seem to have fun getting some fresh air, climbing up and down a hill, and just generally running around like the little maniac she is sometimes. I felt a little awkward when we got back from our walk because the "normal" members were talking about ideas for an upcoming event they were planning, potty-training, etc. and I felt like the third wheel, so to speak. That's to be expected at first, though, right?
            Weather permitting, we will probably give the Waldorf group another shot if for no other reason that it's nice to meet with other people at a park, go for a walk, and let the kids play together. We are "trying out" another "normal mom group" meeting Monday for some indoor fort building at a different park. I'm kind of nervous just because it's in a town I always considered snooty as a whole. I know I shouldn't be like that, but I'm just being honest. I guess we'll just see how it goes!
            Do you, or have you ever, been a part of a moms group or playdate group? What was your experience like?

No comments:

Post a Comment