Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Househusband Social Networking

Smiley is finally old enough to enjoy playing with other children. Only a month ago he was humorously not sure what to do (but shared his toys quite well).

So I am trying to find other children his age that live within walking distance, to arrange play dates. (Do parents still call them that?)

The hypothetical archive of parent resources is the United Way Parent HelpLine. But their information is incomplete and out-of-date because other groups do not responsibly keep in touch.

There is a local Mommy Meetup group. But they do not allow dads.

This part of town has a popular bakery and a Bambini store, both with bulletin boards used by parents for social networking.

The Eugene Library has story times on Tuesdays and Fridays at 10:15 am, and a music time on Saturdays at 10:15 am. Smiley would like that, and I would meet other parents.

There is an indoor playground co-op on the north side of town named Tiny Tots.

The website Oregon Family has other local events, but none so easy to get to. But this page does mention a parent networking group that lacks its own website.

There is a local Birth to Three organization which works with small parent education and support groups. These usually continue on unofficially as social groups. But I am not interested in an initial support group phase, nor being grouped with families who live across town.

ParentsConnect does not have a Eugene group.

Finally, I joined Facebook to see what it had to offer. Sure enough, there is a local parent group there. But it is inactive, only five people, and is also a Google group.

UPDATE: Additions and corrections made above.

UPDATE: At the end of Spring Break week I created a blurb on Craigslist. Perhaps this will work best?

UPDATE:  The Bounce gym is highly recommended by many parents of toddlers.  It has open hours most weekdays.

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