Shy girl in the corner - a follow up

Last week I wrote here that I was feeling tentative towards taking Joshua along to the local playgroup. It was really nice to have friends share their experiences in meeting new people and this helped me to take the plunge today and go along.

It starts at 10am and when I drove up there was nobody there so I sat in the car for a few minutes and then a few cars arrived, at this point I almost didn't get out of the car but looked at Joshua and made myself do it.

Well, what can I say, all the other Mums were lovely and most of the kids were Joshua's age. I felt really welcome and he had a great time exploring the sand pit, cubby and the toys that were put out. Turns out that the group has only been meeting there since January so I guess a lot of the friendships were still new.

I thought that there might have been a few more activities for the kids to do like craft, painting or playdough but it didn't really matter as Joshua was having heaps of fun anyway.

So all up I hope that we can go again next week. I think that it is really important for Josh to spend time with other kids without Emily and it was enjoyable to meet some other local people. I have always wanted to feel more connected to the local community and I think that this is one way I can do that.

Jen

The shy girl in the corner?

It is hard sometimes to be critical of yourself and wonder why you act in a certain way but I think it is important to acknowledge the parts of yourself that you can improve on.

One of my major weaknesses is meeting new people. Way back when I was always the shy girl in the corner to nervous to branch out and introduce herself and start a conversation with someone, at uni and at work I have always been like that. Now as a parent I sometimes fall into the same trap.

For more than a year I have been telling myself that I should take Joshua along to the local playgroup. This would give him an opportunity to have some fun playtime with other kids when Emily is at preschool and become familiar with a different environment that is not always being with Mum. But I am holding myself back, too nervous to walk into a room of strangers and introduce myself. I know I need to do it for Joshua's benefit but I can't seem to make myself, I am just not self confident enough.

Geez, this is a pretty honest post from me but now that I have written it down I am going to work out a strategy to get on with it. Maybe next week I might just get there.

Have you ever felt nervous going to meet new people, how did you manage it?