How Do Working Parents Meet People to Hang Out With?

You have gotten a lot of good advice - Church, Early Childhood PTA, Kid's Sports and Activities. I hope you are not against going to church, because I think that being involved in a church will benefit you and your family in many ways. Even if you are not particularly religious, give it a try. There are a variety of churches in the Dallas area and I am sure that you could find one that you are comfortable with. Look for a MOPS group (Mothers of Preschoolers.) They usually meet in churches and have lots of activities that involve playgroups as well as family activities. A lot of young families have started out coming to the MOPS group at our church (Wilshire Baptist Church) and liked it so much that they began attending our church. A church can provide support and be an extended family for you, as well as an opportunity to make friends.

We've met people through our neighborhood association, early childhood PTA, church, and volunteer groups. We also make it a habit to spend a lot of time on our porch/front yard so we naturally meet people as they walk by.

As I see you're in Dallas, I would encourage you to do a Google Search (I used the following search terms and turned up tons: Early childhood PTA dallas) and see if your neighborhood has an Early Childhood PTA. While I'm not that active in ours (Rosemont Early Childhood PTA), they have tons of activities and mixers for the whole family.

That said, if you don't mind hanging out with a married lesbian couple with a 20 month old, you're welcome to come play dominoes and drink wine at our house!

Unfortunately with a three year it is more difficult. Because of Girl Scouts and Soccer we have now made new friends with a family who has a daughter the same age as ours and a son who is six months older than our son. PERFECT. Plus the dads (one is a WAHD and the other a SAHD) us moms are both work outside of the home moms...

They are similar to us in many ways and we are looking forward to a fun summer of BBQs, soccer, girl scouts and just hanging out. We even plan to have just "parents" nights!

That's out story but I know how hard it was when ours were not "old" enough to sports, school activities...

Stacy,

My husband and I were in your same boat a few years and now have met the most wonderful friends we could ask for. The place is church. For instance, my church has community groups that meet once a week to have fellowship, there is an iron mens ministry where I have never seen such a group of men bond so well together, and the women's ministry is going on a retreat in the near future. Going to a church and becoming involved could change your life on so many levels. I am not sure where you live but if it is in Arlington or Mansfield, would love to invite both you and your husband to ours. We go to the Community at Lake Ridge. We too have a 3 year old son and he loves it there! It is by far the healthiest church I have ever been a part of by far. Just let me know if you would like to come and visit. Would love to have you and husband as our guests

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Stacy,

My husband and I were in your same boat a few years and now have met the most wonderful friends we could ask for. The place is church. For instance, my church has community groups that meet once a week to have fellowship, there is an iron mens ministry where I have never seen such a group of men bond so well together, and the women's ministry is going on a retreat in the near future. Going to a church and becoming involved could change your life on so many levels. I am not sure where you live but if it is in Arlington or Mansfield, would love to invite both you and your husband to ours. We go to the Community at Lake Ridge. We too have a 3 year old son and he loves it there! It is by far the healthiest church I have ever been a part of by far. Just let me know if you would like to come and visit. Would love to have you and husband as our guests

Most of my friends are though the kids activities. Hubby's friends are through his softball. Long story.

But I think more often than not it's through kids activities. My daughter started dance at 3, so I've been friends with the "dance moms" for almost 6 years now. Other parents we met through football, Tae Kwon Do, and basketball.

I also don't hang out with my co-workers and my husband only does for lunch and stuff (he works two hours away and my lunches are spent taking my 4 year old to the bus for pre-k).

Church too :).

I'm having the same problem. No friends to hang out with.

Do you really live in Dallas? if so, there is so much to do, I couldn't possibly fit it all here! Anything you could think of is here. Go to the stockyards in Fort Worth or walk around downtown Fort Worth. Go to a club that has spoken word poetry. Go to a museum. Go to the drive in movie theater. Take a yoga class together. Take salsa dancing class.

Sign up for groupon, daily deals, living social. They will email you deals for ziplining, dinners out, concerts, couples massages, etc. Get Frugal in FOrt Worth. It will tell you about all sorts of free concerts, movies inthe park, etc.

We hang out with co-workers alot. You might find yours are pretty cool after hours. We go to Stars, Rangers, Mavs games together. We go to happy hour together. All the girls bring thier husbands and now all the husbands are friends with each other.

We go places with our church buddies. I go to womens conferences, ladies breakfast, fellowship at bbq joint! My husband signed up for church bowling and softball leauges.

We go to the local YMCA and have our kids in the sports. After sitting next to the same parents at soccer, basketball, and t-ball games, you eventually strike up a conversation, discover you have a favorite place in common and make friends.

We are in the exact same situation. My husband and I are definitely homebodies, but we always have been. We have a 2 year old daughter, and we both work. It is hard to make friends, when there is so little free time. The one couple that we were friends with moved to a different state. I definitely miss having a couple to hang out with. I looked on meetup.com, but most of the groups were for stay-at-home moms. I think there was one working moms group in the Arlington area. I haven't checked in a while. Of course, you could always start your own group as well. I wish you good luck. :)

Church, neighbors, and sports.

It will get easier when your son is a little older. Most of the people we hang out with are either neighbors or parents of kids on my kids soccer teams. We met a lot of people at our church life group when we moved here, but sadly soccer has pushed life group off the schedule for us.

Most of our friends are through church or my kids. We have a bunch of friends through my son's baseball and then I have met quite a few through my kids friends.

I didn't see that anyone had answered with meetup.com. You can search for groups with your interests in your area. There are all kinds of different groups, including some for married couples. There are book clubs, movie groups, etc.

Meetup.com is the place to go! You can meet a lot of nice families that are in the same boat as you. There are several meetups around - some are for parents of young children, some are specifically for working parents, some are for stay-at-home moms. Just find the one that works for you! There's a great one in Collin County that is especially for families with young children. Not sure if you are close to the Plano/Allen, McKinney area, but if you are, feel free to mssg me for the details of the meetup.

Almost all my friends are old friends from before kids, work friends, or other parents I've met at PTA and school board meetings. We do coop preschool so you really get to know the other parents. A few moms at our elementary school go out for a drink or bite after every PTA meeting and each time it's gotten bigger through word of mouth! I find it helps just to reach out and invite others rather than waiting for them to.

All of our friends go to our church, they are awesome! If you join a Bible Study then it is generally by age, marital status, etc.. so it makes it easy to meet people who have children around your age. Highly recommend, not to mention God is amazing so you can worship him at the same time!

When your kids get older most acquaintances come from school. I was once in a 2nd grade moms group of fun women until I took my son out of the school to repeat a grade in another school. All of a sudden I was no longer on the distribution list even tho my son was in their sons' cubscout group AND my husband even coached their sons' football team! I think the ringleader blackballed me. Ha! If you work full time it's even more difficult as u just want to get the %%^* home n b w your kids for dinner. Not to mention homework which you have yet to experience. (it can b a b-t kicking!);-:
We have neighbors done the street that we barbq w here n there but I can't really call them close friends like the ones I have from college or back East.

Try an activity. We met alot of friends when my husband joined a hockey or basketball team. Some not necessarily family men and not all the couples had kids at the time. I wish I knew you so we could hang out. We love dinner and board games too.