Stay at home mom moving to Seattle, any advice? (Redmond: neighborhood, school district)

[jenn3210]

My twins are not quite two, I intend to go back to work when they start preschool but until then I'll be home with them. In my current town I have a pretty strong social network but beginning of the year we'll be moving to the eastern suburbs (somewhere around Redmond most likely) and I'm wondering if anyone has advice to expand my social network when we get there.

I don't come from a particularly social city, we aren't people who bake cookies for the new neighbors or smile at strangers. And I'm not much of a joiner by nature, most of my friends are from grad school or work, but I'm willing to put in a bit of effort for some adult companionship. My husband is excellent company (obviously I'd think so) but my friendships are important to me and I'd like to cultivate some there. Spending most of the day with only two year olds to converse with is a quick trip to Crazytown. So any advice to prevent my descent into insanity would be appreciated.

Although this move is definitely in the cards so if your advice is "don't move here, you'll certainly hate it" then feel free to sugar-coat the hell out of that. Or lie, that's ok too. If I'm destined for a couple years of relative loneliness I don't need to know it just yet, I think I'd rather enjoy my denial for another couple months.

Thank you!

[cmswazey]

When I temporarily moved to the Mid South-only knowing a couple people there-I was lonely. I joined two book discussion groups and that helped a lot. It's easier to bond with new people over a spirited discussion about books, I feel.

Not everyone's a book worm like me, though. There are other meet ups and get togethers- all sorts.

[tobester]

My daughter has twin 4 year olds - there are lots of mom groups and moms of multiples groups in the area.

[carroll4628]

#1 Find a pre-school for the twins. At 3 yo there will mostly be 2 or 3 day options (9:30-noon) or something like that. Get involved in the pre-school community. You said pre-school when you go back to work, but most pre-schools around here aren't full time. In fact 2016-17 was the first year of Full Day Kindergarten for all students in the Lake Washington School district. Prior to that it was mostly AM or PM except for Head Start and First Start programs.

#2 Your neighborhood might actually surprise you. No one brought us cookies, or even introduced themselves until we ran into people outside walking. We went to the neighborhood "Block Party" a few months later and found out there's a Bunko, walking/running/hiking, and book club in the neighborhood.

#3 Join a the eastside Moms of Multiples group. Eastside Mothers of Multiples (EMOMs)

[jenn3210]

Thank you for the replies, I appreciate it!

[Minntoaz]

I'd say join groups, do the gymboree gym thing... I feel like on the East side most of the mom groups are tailored to SAHM's so I think you'll fare just fine.

[misscross]

there are tons and tons of stay at home moms in this area particularly the Eastside. Honestly, you'll have a much easier time than a mom who works outside of the home.

[west seattle gal]

meetup.com has mom groups, people in Seattle connect on them.

[modc]

Join a co- op preschool like Kirkland cooperative preschool. They foster more community because you are helping out with other parents.

Go to library story time and talk to other parents especially
If you see the same ones each week.

Take kid and mom classes at the recreation center.

Go to a local park with a sandbox and bring nice sand toys. Other kids will want to play with them and parents will have to ask you if it's ok for their kids to play with them. This will be a great intro to start chit chatting with another parent.

[cmswazey]

I think the mom groups would be terrific. But in case the op wants to also find some pastimes with people her own age then there are meet ups and library and other book groups for this, too.