Mother of a 19 month old
"It's wonderful not to feel alone in the neighborhood. For most of my maternity leave (when I hadn't heard of HRP Mamas), I felt incredibly lonely. It was winter, so there was no playground mingling, and I had no idea that anyone went to the Winter Garden with their babies. For the most part, I was muddling through on my own, and getting the occasional piece of advice long-distance from my closest friends with kids, almost none of whom live in the city. I would have liked nothing more, during that time, than a regular Monday/Friday session with other mothers. And though, when I did finally discover the group, I was back at work full-time, I felt a little shy to attend or to approach anyone, the online camaraderie was reassuring and heart-warming, and I suddenly, after months of cluelessness, felt I had a resource, people who knew about the area, who were a few months ahead of me with their babies and could look back and offer helpful advice, and whose children I began to see on every trip out of the house, at the Gee Whiz, at Washington Market, at Rockefeller Park, etc. Now I'm hugely grateful, too, for the classes you've organized, which my daughter loves, and for the occasional weekend group play session. I'm envious of the new mothers who discover the group before or right after their babies' births. They won't have to go through quite such a period of loneliness and uncertainty--they'll have a family already waiting to guide them."