Great resources for new moms : SitSwap, Masalamommas, MeetUp, Ontario Early Years Centres

As a (relatively) new mom I’ve been fortunate enough to come across some great resources and I thought I’d share them with you today. You might remember that I spoke about my fun life as Maternity Leave Mom recently and some of those fun things I look to do came about from through these great  groups/services.

Remember how I  told you I initiated a mommy and me class in our  building? Well one of the fab new ladies I’ve met recommended that we pop into one of the Ontario  Early Years Centres and test them out. There are more than 100 Ontario Early Years Centres with 24 of them in Toronto, including specific centres for Francophone and Aboriginal families. Each centre is led by a local community agency that delivers programs to families with children, aged 0 – 6, in partnership with other local service providers.

I’m not going to lie we were dubious of  the place, as it was in the middle of what can be perceived as a somewhat sketchy neighbourhood (ours was at Queen and Parliament). Two of us decided to “bravely” wander over one Thursday  afternoon and boy were we surprised! The Toronto Centre Rosedale location was hosted at a school. On arrival we were greeted by four lovely women who were running the program. The afternoon consisted of mingling with other moms (all “normal” moms like us, on maternity leave looking to fill their time), singing and listening (ok learning in my case) to songs and stories. In addition since it was a Mother Goose program (unfortunately the final day) we received a nutricious lunch and a sippy cup (for Little Monkey, not me!)! Each month there are different programs available, always something to do each day. That’s foshure! You can find the April schedule for the downtown location here. Let me know if you want to join me one day!

I’m sure you’ve heard of MeetUp and some of you might have even attended events through these groups. It’s a great place to connect with others based on a hobby, activity or location and in my case, I joined the New Toronto Moms and Moms To Be group about  a year ago. I attended the daycare seminar a while back (no .. I  haven’t enrolled yet!.. must do so soon!) and last week I attended a Baby and Me pilates class.  You are allowed to bring a guest and the same friend joined me for both these sessions. These were free sessions but there are a few that require tickets or some form of payment. Some activities are :  spas sessions, coffee dates, lunch dates, baby sign language, French play dates, park play dates… The list goes on. If you’re ever stuck for ideas this is a great place to snoop around at!

I’ve mentioned Masalamommas before but I’d like highlight them again, and not just because  I’m a guest blogger on their site! This online magazine is a  fun spot for brown moms (and moms to be or even if you’re just entangled in the brown universe) to connect with each other over topics such as style, food, relationship woes, and ofcourse juggling the issues that seems to arise in brown families more so than others! So get that cup of chai and curl up for some good reads. There’s always events happening as well, I mentioned their launch and the Auto show. Next up… bookclub! A raunchy topic at that too! If you’d like to join the conversation, the writers can often be found on Twitter, chuckling about something or shooting out though provoking questions, join in the fun! I’ll let you find the individual handles for the writers!

Being on maternity leave I do not really  have the  option of hiring a babysitter…well I do but I prefer to save the $$ for other things. I’m fortunate enough to have my brother who often volunteers to babysit as well as a  select few friends who always come to the rescue when my brother is unable to. While I  haven’t made use of this service YET I definitely plan to in the very near future as I’m sure family and friends won’t ALWAYS be able to help out. That said, I don’t even now how I found out about  SitSwap, but I did. It’s a baby sitting exchange  service with other moms in your neighbourhood! Brilliant eh? Not only do you get to go on baby dates with these moms but you can then get some free time either for a dip into the spa or doctor visits..not to mention Movie dates!

They also a have a monthly contests where you submit you’re  baby’s picture for a chance to be the monthly star. The Little Monkey is the February feature and I not only got three months premium access  but also some jewelery and Arbonne cream! I haven’t cashed any of that in yet..but it’s just a matter of time. Definitely worth checking them out. Their membership seems to be growing immensely … I just wish there was a feature to filter by postal code or a certain radius, BEST to find moms in your immediate neighbourhood! Let me  know if you join!