Reply to Parents- tell me about your friendships with childfree people

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Interested in hearing from a child free late 40s woman about what I did during this time to maintain the connection? [/quote]

Mid-40s and childfree here (married 20 years). I was a bit nervous about this when my friends started having kids. Mostly I was worried that they would change and that they wouldn't have room for me in their lives any more. Fortunately, that didn't happen at all. My friends are still themselves, though they've grown and changed in entirely expected ways. If anything, they became more themselves, if that makes sense. The key, I think, was truly welcoming their kids into our friendships, and getting to know the kids on a deep and genuine level. And changing expectations about what would constitute 'hanging out' - basically realizing that activities didn't matter, their company did. So I hung out and talked with them during kid stuff, spent one on one time getting to know their kids, and continued to love and support them even when I didn't understand. I'm really glad these friendships lasted - not only do I still have my dearest friends, I get to watch them as parents and get to know their children, which has been rewarding and fascinating. [/quote]

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