"I'm curious to hear how you all snapped out of your child-induced isolation"

No child-induced isolation issues for me. I returned to work 2 weeks after the birth of each kid. My SAHM neighbors handle it by watching "The View", "Dr. Phil", "Oprah", and lots and lots of Lifetime movies. The kids watch, too.

I joined the local moms for play group when my first was 2 months old (too young to play). It got us dressed, out of the house, talking with others and provided reassurance for this first time parent. Going from career to SAHM was a big transition and it was nice to have some support.

Why do men feel like they need a convention to discuss hair braiding?

did the other parents posting here have "an acute sense of isolation" after having kids?

when baby arrived we still got together with our good friend and subsequent life events broadened that circle. Now we have more than ever.

and although it seems obvious to say (write), just having the kids added life to our household. just the opposite of a feeling of isolation.

Definitely tough with the first one. I thought: hey, I'd love to join a playgroup - but had no idea how to do that. I finally found the parent's group in our neighborhood, and it was a great find.

It can definitely be isolating. There are so few parents who stay home with the kids - and none of my friends had kids, so, well, they were at work. I'd meet someone for lunch every now and then, but still...

Since we moved to a new state when I was pregnant with DD1, I was definitely worried about the isolation thing. But the hospital where I gave birth to her sponsors a class for new moms, and we joined when DD1 was 6 weeks old. Once the class was done, the parents in it transitioned to a regular playgroup, and we're still meeting 3.5 years later. That group was a lifeline when everything was new, and several of the moms in it have become very close friends.

Help with isolation? The US Army fixed that for me!

Oh, that was before I had kids. Never mind.

Hi to Brian!

OT to any Purdon't grads out there!

I have a bit of memorabilia to share with you. My grandfather graduated in 1912 and just this weekend, I was given a leather bound graduation booklet from the class of 1912. They had 4 days of graduation exercises starting with the Baccalaureate Address by the president of the University of Notre Dame and ending with the Senior Banquet. In between was the Senior Dramatics night, the Alumni Day and the Senior Hop!

The biggest class was in Civil Engineering followed by Electrical and then Mechanical, Agriculture and a few other smaller colleges. George Ade was on the Board of Trustees. I understand that the football stadium is named for him. The booklet is still in very good condition!

We didn't feel isolated after our kids were born. I agree with the comment that becoming a parent made me less isolated than before.

I thought the hair braiding comment was strange too, you all sit around and swap hair braiding tips? This was the problem I found with the playgroup I was in with my daughter from about the age 18 months- 24 months, the women wanted to sit around and talk about diapers, naps, toys and complain about their husbands. I couldn't stand it.

Personally, I didn't feel too much isolation after the kids were born - but I may have forgotten it because it was not a huge problem. Becoming a parent did force us to go utside our comfort zone, meet people, get involved and turned many acquantences into friends. It's all good now and I feel no need to explore my "inner most isolationist feelings".

I definitely felt isolated the first few weeks at home. I work on a trade floor - not even a cubicle wall between me and my neighbors. And suddenly I was home all day, with minimal contact with people who could actually talk back. When the baby was about a month old I met a few neighbors I had never met before, and knowing I could have human contact when needed made a huge difference. Now that I'm back at work, I almost wish for that isolation on the weekends, so I can just spend the time playing with my baby. Instead we have to run errands, and I make sure to make social plans at least once a weekend, so that I maintain my status as a person other than "mommy".

With a husband who works second shift (meaning I'm home with the kids in the evenings) and no moms group in our town, I still get "shack wacky" every so often. My husband's days off are erratic-sometimes he only gets one day off a week, sometimes two, sometimes one day off followed by two or three on and then the next day off, whatever. The long stretches with only one day off a week are the hardest. The first couple of days being a "single" mom in the evenings aren't too bad, but by day 5 or 6, I'm usually climbing the walls.

I do have a couple of escapes though. PTA meetings are always a good one, and I love yard sale season because it gives me a chance to interact with adults on Friday or Saturday mornings (I gotta admit I hate Sundays in this town because if you're not a Christian, there's basically nothing to do around here, especially in the mornings when I have a chance to get out on my own before hubby leaves for work!). I've told my husband that yard sales for me are not only an economically sound way to get clothes for the kids (and even us sometimes) but they also give me some much-needed human contact.

My other escape is the firehouse where we volunteer. Although I don't get to run as many calls as I used to (as Murphy's Law would have it, we seem to only get calls in the afternoons or evenings when my husband's at work-ack!), I still manage to help with the fundraisers or fire prevention details whenever I can. Just hanging around that place talking to the boys is a blast!

"I'm excited by the prospect of being around a handful of kindred souls, guys who define themselves as fathers first, everything else second."

Immature and creepy. Typical Brian.

DH had a pretty tough time for the first year or so. We were in a new state, didn't know anyone, and way back in the early 90's there was even more of a "glass floor under the sandbox" at the neighborhood playground. All the moms would hang around and talk to each other, interact with each other's kids, etc. but DH was not accepted or welcomed, and he learned very quickly that there could be very unpleasant consequences for a man who spoke to someone else's kids.

It took a while, but we found friends and community through our religion. Took a weekly class, and through the instructors learned about a local chorus. That was the perfect fit, because the chorus had just lost their previous accompanist. DH plays guitar and has a warm, rich baretone voice, and he has perfect pitch, so he was a great fit for the chorus.

The chorus eventually ended, but we remain friends with several of the members. And during the decade that DH was singing with them, we got to know a whole lot different people and groups around the area.