This whole parenting thing can change your circle of friends. Those without kids aren't up for 9am park play dates. Likewise, you're not really able to do the 9pm dinner reservations.
#1Hubby and I have only recently come to this startling realisation while searching high and low for that long lost thing we once referred to as our social life.
I fondly remember regular meals out with my girlfriends. They were often after a hefty gym workout (read: 15mins in the sauna followed by 30mins in the spa....all required after 20 seconds climbing the stairs out the front).
#1Hubby used to frequent his local Pub after work on a Friday, followed by some sort of essential sporting viewing at a bar or a mate's place over the weekend, and perhaps a round of golf in there too thankyouverymuch.
This was all scheduled around regular parties, dinners, movies and whatever the hell we felt like doing at the drop of a hat.
Now we stay at home with the kids. Or go to Macca's with the kids. Or go to the park with the kids. Occasionally, when feeling really sociable, we go to Sizzler with the kids.
Babysitters are pricey, and the kids are feral. The only possible way of gaining a social life is either online (please...no online gaming communities...I may lose my shit), or with very sympathetic and understanding fellow parents. Solidarity. Strength in numbers. All that stuff.
And so I've got a few different groups of girlfriends who I very occasionally get out with. #1Hubby is starting to notice the frequency of these outings increasing. With the decrease in duration between my fleeing the house while shouting "Woohoo...freedom is mineeeee!", so the moaning and whining emitting from his person increases.
Seriously, there's nothing more irritating than a whiny man-child. Kids are kids, you can dazzle them with smoke and mirrors (or toys and treats, if you don't have any smoke or mirrors handy). Kids can be distracted in a heartbeat by the wave of an icy pole or a trip to Macca's. Husbands are not so easily pleased.
So I've been on at #1Hubby to take up sport again. I even said it with a straight face, and without snorting (because I'm a lady and all that). You see, #1Hubby is prone to severe and seriously life threatening muscle strains within 2 weeks of joining any sporting club. He's actually very fit (thought it was time I threw a compliment his way, amidst all this husband-bashing), and very athletic. He's just forgotten that he's not 20 anymore, and so goes hard the second he joins any team, and starts to crumble at the knees, ankles, and every other bodily joint, within 2 weeks of commencing training.
He likes golf. He even has golf clubs. He pulled them out of the garage just the other day....to clean and polish and loan to someone else to...you know...play golf with them.
So anyway I've been thinking about how to increase his social presence. I'm annointing myself his Social Secretary. I'm starting with his online presence. A bit of a Social Media campaign, if you will.
I've been eyeing off DearBabyG's HB as a potential play date, and so I've started easing #1Hubby into the concept of Twitter where I could instigate a little follower action and watch the relationship blossom. Or something like that. This is in no way due to DearBabyG owning a kick ass cofffee machine, or receiving a MacBookPro for her recent 27th birthday. That is just sheer coincidence and good husbanding on the part of HB.
Ideally, I'd like to set him up with George Clooney, because he's a pretty cool guy, and he'd be super pretty for me to look at over the outdoor setting during casual BBQ's...and he is also my key to the f&cking* NESPRESSO THAT I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR.
You had to expect I'd find a way to weave that one in, right?
I'm thinking of setting #1Hubby up on a series of play dates with males I have pre-approved.
How does one receive the tick of approval? I'm glad you asked. There are a number of equally weighted criteria:
- Wife must be awesome
- Both must drink
- No wine snobbery. As much as I'd like to be a wine snob, I don't have the budget for it.
- Must have slight hearing issues, so as not to be put off by the ever noisy feral threesome.
- Must have kids who are not perfect. By perfect, I mean irritating. By irritating, I mean adult-children who are speaking 3 languages by age 5, and mastering at least 2 instruments (one of which is the classical violin). Those types wouldn't want their kids near mine. It would only end in tears.
- Must love Bali. Because I foresee a future of joint holidays to my happy place, fueled by cocktails and shopping. No judgment on my dumping the kids on a Nanny (or, even better, if they have older kids - bribing them to be the Nanny to my kids).
- Must not be excessively clean and tidy, because it just makes me feel inferior (their house, not their person. Their person is expected to be relatively well maintained).
- Must find me funny. Because I've got nothing else. Don't expect me to discuss foreign policy, the finer points of the budget, or anything that doesn't involve Britney Spears or reality television.
- Must be happy with a decent portion of the friendship taking place online. Because even if you're prepared to meet all of the criteria above, we are quite lazy about getting out and about with the feral threesome, so expecting us to make weekly play dates is not an option. Unless you have a pool. And a bar. Then we'll commit.
Sweet. Wonder if I get a Childcare Rebate at this place?
*f&cking is not technically swearing #1Nana, so don't call to chastise me over my potty mouth and the waste of expensive private school education that you bestowed upon me while foregoing luxury holidays.
