Lately, my husband and I have been talking a lot about socializing our little one. As much as I love the idea of it being my little boy and me forever, I knew it would be beneficial to our little man to do something with other moms and kids. My husband brought up participating in MOPS (Mothers Of Preschoolers). And so yesterday my little one and I attended our first MOPS meeting.
I can honestly say we both loved it. However going in to this new adventure, I was a little apprehensive. Anyone who has had a preemie can understand the nerves you get when you think about letting a complete stranger take care of your little one for any amount of time. The more I’ve thought about it the more I realized it’s not about letting someone else watch them as much as it is about the socialization with the other kids.
Every kid needs to interact with other kids, preemie or not. But actually I feel like preemies need this even more because they sometimes struggle to meet the necessary milestones growing up. Lately, we’ve been around some kids Dustin’s age and I feel like he’s not quiet where they are. Now I understand that every kid is different and they won’t all be at the same level at the same time, but it’s hard not to compare to other kids who are his age.
As moms I know we always want to do what is best for our little one. So I decided that we would go try MOPS out and see if it helps out. When I went to drop him off, he had a melt down. But I knew I just had to walk away and go to the meeting. That was hard. However, I loved the meeting. I had the opportunity to make new friends, who were moms, who understood what we were going through. We talked and laughed and it was honestly just a great two hours.
As for Dustin’s experience, after the meeting was over I went down to pick him up. To my surprise he was playing and smiling and having fun.
He loved it too! This experience had been as much a benefit to me as it was to him. I think as moms we forget that we need to socialize with other moms too. We get so wrapped up in what our kids are doing and what they need that we forget we have needs as moms and as people. I encourage you to get involved with a MOPS group or something like it in your area! It might be a little unnerving at first but I promise you will walk out with a smile.
Have a great week!
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