4. Don’t do the judgmental mom thing.
Ohhhh you know the thing. Don’t place the weight of your personal expectations onto her motherhood journey. Unless their kid is in some kind of actual danger, leave it be, and celebrate the differences you have in parenting styles. So what if they cosleep? So what if they bottle feed? So what if they homeschool, private school, unschool, or public school? Let them do their thing, and join them for the fun stuff.
5. Put something on the calendar right away, or else.
You moms know. How many open-ended coffee invitations did you accept on maternity leave? How many mom friends do you see on Sundays and say “We’ll get together soon!” and then you blink and your kids are literally in school by the time you connect again? Yeah. Don’t do that. Whip out your phone, seriously look at your availability, and carve out time to invest into that new friendship.
6. Do the mom, texting, funny quotes thing.
If you have their number and you want to remind them you exist, but don’t want to be the creep that texts at 1:45AM (the time you finally have a minute to think straight) just remember, it’s hard to go wrong with a good wine joke, sleep deprivation joke, or confession about how many times your kid ate chicken nuggets this week (four, if you’re wondering). Thanks to the internet, you don’t even have to be funny. You just have to share funny things and both laugh at them.
And before you know it, boom. You’ve got something to laugh about together at your playdate that’s in the calendar for next Monday at 10:00AM. Because you asked. And planned. And made a new friend.
You’re welcome.
