Activity #299: Talk about something besides sleep

We know there are those people whose infants start sleeping eleven or twelve hours a night around four months old. These so-called “babies” take three daily naps at 8, 12 and 4.30. And then there are the rest of us.

At one point my moms group’s weekly discussion was so dominated by sleep that we were starting to get sick of each other, even though we needed each other so very badly, because no one else would be willing to listen to us talk with such hysteria about our child’s sleep habits.

Because it was a sensitive issue, I emailed the group ahead of time suggesting that at our next gathering, we would censor the subject unless it was a serious mental health situation that someone needed to address. I proposed a list of alternative topics that would help rejuvenate us and make us laugh during our meeting. We did this twice and it was tons of fun.

Our format was to go around in a circle and each answer the proposed alternative-to-how-is-your-baby-sleeping question Here are some conversation starters for you:

• What brought you to live here?
• Where did you go to college and what did you study?
• What were you going to name the baby if it was the opposite gender?
• Tell us about the relationship you had before you were with your partner.

These may sound basic, but when you’ve spent all of your bonding time discussing strollers and nipples, you may have left out some basic facts. Try it and let us know how it goes.