Join a Parent’s Group

The best thing I ever did as a mother was to join a parents’ group. It helped me, my husband and my baby.

In the parents’ group, I learned of various problems babies might have and various solutions to them. I learned that whatever problem I was having, others were having too, and if I was up in the middle of the night with my baby, so were others I knew with their babies. I also realized that the problems I was having were small in comparison to problems others were having. It helped me cope to know that however difficult I thought parenting was, it could have been worse.

In addition, I met other new moms & dads in my area. My daughter had an immediate play group of local friends, and now some of my closest friends are moms I met through the parents’ group.

Besides all the social benefits of the parents’ group, the facilitator, Beth, was a pediatric nurse and social worker who had a wealth of information and knowledge about parenting, the emotional changes we all go through when we become parents, and local resources for parent/child needs.

My parents’ group was organized through Alameda Family Services, New Parents’ Groups (formerly known as Smart Healthy Babies) (http://alamedafs.org/index.php?id=28).