Mom groups

I fucking love moms.

Before becoming a parent, I was quite naïve about the rigors of creating new people and them growing them until adulthood. And frankly I think I was a bit of an asshole to the new-ish mothers in my vicinity, but not out of spite. Just out of ignorance. And also, I think as a younger person I had a bit of internalized misogyny too.

That part stemmed from my time in organized religion (American Christianity). Especially the more conservative parts tended to be quite separate due to gender, and I always felt like I was looked down upon, or not taken seriously because I was born with a uterus. So, take the internalized misogyny and pair it with youth, I definitely preferred to spend my company with men.

Yuck.

Now that I’ve become a parent, I am %100 a girl’s girl. All of the girls, all of the time. And also all of the theys all of the time. Give me the queer folx, the girly girls, the non-binary babes over cisgendered men %100 of the time. This probably pertains to my own personal shift to realize that I am also queer and nonbinary. But seriously, my fav type of people has completely shifted 180 degrees AND I’m a much better person than I was before. I owe so many apologies to so many people. Damnit.

Moms are some of the toughest people I’ve ever met. And the ones who embrace the difficulties and then come out swinging? Hell yeah. We’re tough as fuck and we don’t take any shit.

So imagine my absolute delight when scrolling reels that I find this startup that is building a new community around new parents and padel. The company’s name is Padel and Prams. Here is their IG, and here is their website. Apparently they were started by two moms who were having a hard time returning to exercise and they realized that everyone has this problem and that racket sports would be a good way to bring everyone together.

This is incredible. I remember when my lo was young and it being so hard. My body was weak, especially since I was nursing. And I just felt so lonely. It’s like the rest of the world moved on, and going from being celebrated as a pregnant person, to being judged postpartum I just wanted to hide inside. That lead me to a deep, dark place because us humans aren’t meant for isolation. And I found it incredibly hard to regulate myself and my infant at the same time. The worst part was being alone, and I wish that I had a place to go with my kiddo that was safe (thanks covid!) AND was around other people that were living through a tough transition like me.

The bad thing is that this company is based in London, England. ☹ So, for us North American parents, we’re in the lurch. But I love the idea so much! Padel is apparently one of the fastest growing sports out there. It’s easy to learn, and not as hard on the body as tennis. I also love that it’s more accessible and not as bougie.

I also love it because you can book a court easily with a padel club management software. My mental space is at an all time low, so if I had to call the courts to organize a game… that would mean that I wasn’t going to play. It’s only after like four years of parenthood that I can manage getting out of the house relatively easy with my kiddo. But those early days? God it was so hard.

Us moms rock, and if you’re reading this with a newborn, you are kicking ass. Keep going my dear, you can do it. You have the support of us mammas behind you.