If this episode has a theme, it’s this: the adults in the room need to put on their air masks first.

Today I’m talking with my friend Adrienne, who I meet with every week to chat about business. Adrienne is married and the mom of two children, one in preschool, one in elementary school.

Adrienne is in the thick of trying to build a friendship community for her family. Here, she shares what’s working and what’s not. In my mind, what she’s doing is advanced community building, in part because it’s in her own needs. She wants people around she can depend on so she doesn’t feel alone raising her kids.

A lot of people tell me they never saw their parents have friends. Maybe they were part of a local group or a place of worship, but their parents never took those relationships outside of that one place.

My thoughts? Even if you live near family, you still might benefit from community support.

In this episode you’ll hear about:

• How finding adult friends with shared interests is more sustainable than letting kids run the show, as kids’ interests are more malleable
• Shared experience roots – and how this can make entering into a friendship community that already exists difficult
• How offering small intimacies – inviting someone to your unclean house, for example – shows you’re human and offers the other person the opportunity to do the same
• An overview of the “community conversation” Adrienne had with the families in her neighborhood
• Investing in your own friendships, and why this models to children how to navigate and maintain friendships for themselves
• How being part of a family’s community doesn’t always mean watching kids; it can involve taking apart a swing set or being an emergency contact, etc.

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