Parent couple dating

I was just with a friend at lunch, let's call her "Mrs. L, the mommy with the two adorable girls under 5 who is a blast in a glass."  I knew I'd find some way to use blast in a glass (Jersey Shore reference).  I hadn't seen her in years, but we went to college together, both grew up in South Florida, both live in Tampa (glad she moved back here) and both have kids, so right there we have things in common. 


As we sat down at lunch it was comfortable from the start and we were catching up and laughing about the trials and tribulations of choosing a preschool, the differences between South Florida and Tampa, and meeting other moms and dads.  The last part is where I'm heading, so let's get right to it, parent couple dating in on my mind.  When you become a parent, all of a sudden you tend to see your single or married friends a lot less.  There are numerous reasons why we parents find ourselves "dating" in order to find other parents to be our new friends.  Not to replace old friends, I mean like Mrs. L said, you certainly can't, nor would you want to, replace college friends so easily (They know things about you that even your husband may never know!  What happens in college stays in college, right?  Oh wait, that's Vegas, eeesh,).

It's not that we want to talk about kids all the time with our parent friends, it's oftentimes quite the opposite.  However, it is nice to date parents in order to put together a support system, people who understand when the child you love with all of your heart is making you pull your hair out (or pulling your hair out on his/her own).  Parent couple dating involves meeting other people, who like you are men and women with potentially similar interests to you, but who also now carry the title of parent.  They understand why we often want to be home by midnight or earlier on date night in fear of our children waking up in the middle of the night, why we are regularly checking our phones for status updates from the babysitter when we're out, why choosing a preschool is so stressful, why we really, really needed that extra cocktail at dinner, why we miss our parents even though we just saw them yesterday, why our usual intellectual selves haven't read a book in a year but are caught up on all reality TV, and so on and so forth.  Perhaps parents just get each other, there is often an unspoken bond between parents around the world.  We're hoping that our parent dates will reveal similar interests in golf, wine, movies, vacation locations, etc.  And it doesn't hurt if the kids like each other too because it's nice to get together with other families.


So I'm taking my own advice.  I'm newish to Tampa and I'm putting myself out there.  I'm going on dates to find good fits for mom friends, dad friends for Papa Lusty, kid friends for AML jr and even doggy friends for Maddy.  Some may even be blind date setups.  I'm not saying it's easy.  It might seem awkward at first, but like going on dates with potential significant others, it's usually fun.  At the least, you'll get out on a Saturday night with other adults, eat without being interrupted and get tunes from Dora the Explorer or Fresh Beat Band out of your head for a few hours.  If you put yourself out there, you never know what good people and good times lay ahead.

And not to over-plug it, but small fry society and bun in the oven bunch are great places to meet other moms and moms-to-be, so join us!