Tag: facebook


Feb
2016

Nomo FOMOing

categories: Unrelated

It usually happens around Wednesday evening. That dreaded question. What do we have going on this weekend? As a working mom, my weekends are considered a sacred time for being with S. and Mike and making memories. When it’s cold, we usually defer to the mall play area. When it’s warm, we end up at the local playground. But there is always something tickling the back of my mind. FOMO. The ‘fear of missing out’. It isn’t until Monday when I see on Facebook all the festivals, grand openings, free play events that we missed. How do these parents know what’s going on? Am I missing the newsletter? Did I not get the ‘things to do with a toddler’ website when Mike was born?

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I decided to stop FOMO’ing and figure this out. I asked these well connected people where they get their weekend plans and now I am sharing with YOU so you can stop FOMO’ing, make memories, try something new AND have akid that take a nap on the weekend.

{Red Tricycle} S. loves the Red Tricycle emails! They have a bunch of cities, so he subscribes to the Washington DC email. They have a great event listings page. I feel like the featured events are very art-centric and that’s not a bad thing.

{Housewives of Frederick County} I consider the lovely ladies of HOFC to be among the blogging elite. While their event listings are more Frederick County focused (and free!), they blog about lots of stuff.  I really like the DIY section.

{Macaroni Kid} Like Red Tricycle, Macaroni Kid is a national site, but local areas are ‘run’ by local parent publishers. Our local publisher is very active in lots of groups and sends out a weekly event email. I really consider her a local ‘expert’ and have found some fun stuff for us to do on weekends.

{EventBrite} EventBrite is not just for kids! Anyone can sell tickets through EventBrite, so it isn’t focused on world tours or high dollar events. Think Girls Night Out, local expos and networking events. The cool thing is you can search your zip code, then narrow it down to type, price and date. It’s a great resource for planning a date night or finding a new group that has your interest.

{Moms with Tots} A great resource from another Maryland Blogger friend who posts ‘week of’ events. She also has the option to submit events, so there is a wide variety from exhibits to open play at local gyms.

{Local Facebook Group} Though this is last, this is where I recommend you start. I joined a ‘Moms of’ group on Facebook and these ladies are a wealth of knowledge. They all get different information from different places on local events and then are happy to share it with the group. Just search Facebook for your area.

Here’s to no mo fomo’ing!

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Feb
2016

Preschool Woes

categories: Being Mom

I was thinking yesterday about my a ‘parenting style’. Am I a Helicopter Parent? A Free Range Parent? An Unconditional Parent? No folks. I am don’t fit into those neat little boxes. I fit into my own parenting style which I call the ‘It Didn’t Occur to Me Parent’. Signing Mike up for preschool really confirmed that parenting style.

It’s a damn good thing my niece is a few months older than Mike, and my brother and sister-in-law are on top of things. If we weren’t following the path they made, poor Mike would still be drinking formula in a bottle because, well, it just didn’t occur to me to ween him off. My ADHD tends to put me on auto-pilot which isn’t always a good thing.

It didn’t occur to me that Mike probably should go to preschool this year. There was no email from the department of preschool or a knock on the door from preschool police. But then again, how hard could it be? As it turns out pretty complicated. When I went to preschool, there was only one in my hometown. No application process or required tours. There weren’t options like Montessori, co-op, or religious affiliation. And there certainly wasn’t a waiting list.

I had heard there were a couple of preschool expos where they all set up display tables and we could get all the information in one shot, so I decided to ask my local mom’s Facebook group how it all works. Here’s how THAT went:

“Not to make you feel worse, but most places have done their open houses and some of the more popular ones will probably be full soon.”  Yes. I do feel worse. And thanks for a non-solution.

“There was a fair scheduled last weekend at the college.” Great! Thanks! But that does nothing to help ME. 

“We elected to keep our kids in a home daycare until they are 4.”  I am glad you made a decision that works for your family! I am not sure if you are mom-shaming me or not, so I will just move on. Also, another non-solution.

“Registration for many schools started in January. Call NOW!!” I should also note, this response currently has 5 likes. I also currently have a stomach ulcer.

By the time I read through these, I was pretty sure Mike was not going to preschool this year and will never, ever reach his full potential. Although I will say, that there were a few helpful responses that didn’t make me feel like the world’s worst parent.

So S. and I took to Google and have narrowed a long list down to three options to check out. It seems they all have rolling registration so we can set up a time to tour them next month when life calms down a bit. Perhaps Mike won’t grow up and live in our basement because it didn’t occur to me early enough to register him for preschool.