So, here's a confession: I moved to Boston 2 years ago. I work full-time. I am a single parent. I have no in real life parent friends in Boston. Except maybe my landlord because she lives upstairs and has kids that are almost the same age as my daughter.
I read this article in the NYT from last week. It's about a family where the dad is Korean American and the mom is Chinese American. And the mom talks about enrolling her son in Chinese classes so that her son can have playmates who are Asian American.... and all the kids in the classes were white.
I feel that. I want my daughter to have a social network that can bolster her own identity. But I also want that social network to reinforce my values and my identity. I don't think that all of her friends have to be Asian American. Though most of my friends are.
I've developed my own social network of like-minded Asian Americans in Boston. They're all about my age, share values and political beliefs. But they're all like in that just-getting-married kid of life stage. And here I am one marriage over, with a 4 year old kid. Where do I go to find parents who share my values?
I think the blog world has been great for me to find support in my experiences as an Asian American parent. But I guess there's a practical piece where I would love to have play dates, and those kinds of friends who have kids who would watch your kid for an hour while you go shopping, and vice versa.
How did you develop your own in real life social networks? And how important is diversity in these networks?
~ eliaday is a single working full time mother who, despite what people may think, has no super human abilities. she just can get by with very little sleep.
