Experiences with Mamistad?

[Anonymous]

Anyone belong or thinking of joining Mamistad? What are your experiences? Has it fostered strong relationships with other moms? Does it form groups based on location- dc/ va/ md?

[Anonymous]

Our group is all in northern virginia and we've been together since the kiddos were about 3 months old (they're all about 18-20 months now. We still meet every Friday (usually at someone's house) and those of us who live even closer to each other get together at parks during the week. I've loved it!

[Anonymous]

I'm in DC and have hesitations about having a DC friendly group. One woman I know who lives in DC said she joined but everyone else lived in VA, so she never went.

[Anonymous]

I'm in a Montgomery County MD group and love it. Just make sure your group has a strong leader (or volunteer to do it yourself). It's really self-directed, so if everyone in your group is expecting someone else to suggest or organize activities, you'll quickly fall apart. I've had a great experience and definitely recommend it.

[Anonymous]

My mamistad group met for a few weeks, and then fell apart. Everyone had different schedules, people just stopped responding to emails, etc. I asked the leader to be placed in a new group, but never was so I moved on and found a different mom's group that I'm really happy with. So, as a PP said, it really depends on who ends up in your group and how much everyone wants to make it work.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree that it's dependent upon the women in the group. I made some friends from my group who I still chat with despite moving out of the area. Biggest drawback is that you're basically lumped in with people close to you and your babies age. I so wish there was a way to group people more with their interests. I had zero in common with the moms in my group.

[Anonymous]

But can't you go to the other events listed on the calendar- there seems like so many.

[Anonymous]

to 15:31:: the quick answer is NO. the group events set up on the calendar are just a listing of all that's happening. some are open to the public, but the majority are private events for that mamistad group.

[Anonymous]

15;17 poster here. I agree that it depends on the group you're paired up with. Many of the moms in my group are in another non-mamistad groups through other avenues. Definitely sign up for more than one right off the bat.

[Anonymous]

Been in my group since we were all early in our second trimester. Our babies are 1 year old now. We are pretty much all working mom's but we get together about once a month or so. It is really great for me to know so many other mom's with young babies. I have actually gotten really close to some of the girls in my group! I do think it just depends on who you get matched up with. We seem to all get along pretty well.

That being said, I am still in other groups too to keep a variety of options open for playdates, etc.

[Anonymous]

I see there are a lot of curious women about this group! I am one of them as well. I hope OP doesn't mind but I also have a question- is the SAHM groups closer/ more open to meeting up regularly? Also, how do the women meet if some are in VA, some are in MD, and some in DC? If you have a small baby, I can't imagine how hard it would be... or maybe I'm not understanding the concept?

[Anonymous]

You're grouped together based on several factors such as: where you live, where you'd like to meet, if you're a SAHM or WM, meet only on wknds, meet during the week, etc. Another and perhaps most important is when your baby is due.

Essentially, you come together because you're child(ren) are the same age and where/when you're willing to meet. There's no way to sort it out based on personal interests.

For example, the women I was grouped with were all nice, but NONE of them are people I would have been friends with otherwise. We varied on everything from political backgrounds, philosophy on raising children, work experience, finances, etc. It was truly a mishmash except our kids were all born within 6 weeks of each other. I'm not saying I want to hang out with clones of myself, but it was challenging to have such varied views on everything I had questions about or needed answers for. I just wanted to find some friends for me who were dealing with the same thing and I didn't get that.

I have to give Cynthia (the woman who created Mamistad) credit though. She "interviews" everyone who joins and tries to match people up, but it's grown so large, so fast it can't possibly be perfect.