Sometimes playdates are light and fun and hilarious.
Other times you find yourself talking about things you never thought you would, and the discussion stays with you a long, long time. If you are lucky enough to find wise friends, who can look at themselves and others in a fearless and clear-eyed way, you can even find yourself having insights into why you feel the way you do and why you parent the way you do.
That's what's been going on this week on Ask Moxie. You're of course already reading it, and if you're not go there. Now. Seriously. I'll wait.
Moxie, and her commenters, have really built an amazing community who treat each other with kindness, empathy and honesty (a tricky combo to master about anything but especially about parenting, which can really bring out the humorless schoolmarm in all of us). This week, a question from a reader about mourning the loss of her relationship with her first child now that she has the second (right there with ya) touched off a brilliant discussion about the issues we all bring to the table as parents, dealing with the way we were parented. A followup post drew even more comments and even separate posts on other blogs.
Parenting can be a lonely business – it's easy to feel like you're the only person who is struggling with a particular issue. Sites like Ask Moxie and even this one (we hope) help you realize we're all in this together and if we drop the façade there's a lot of common ground to be had.
Anyone for a rousing chorus of Kumbaya?
