Playgroup Practice

Meeting other parents is hard.  Red lipstick and stripes make everything easier.

My Look:  Shirt by truly madly deeply via Urban Outfitters.  Tank via Target.  Pants by BDG via Urban Outfitters.  Shoes by JCrew.  Scarf by JCrew.  Bangles by JCrew and gifts.  Watch by JCrew.  Earrings via Macys.  Lipstick by pixi (love lip blush).

So, The Pup is joining a co-op playgroup.  Basically, that means that he'll run around with other toddlers twice a week during the mornings, watched by a rotating group of parents.  We come up with activities and snacks, and we have a team teacher who (supposedly, but probably doesn't) organizes the chaos.  One the one hand, I'm delighted that The Pup will find some buddies his own age.  But he's never had a problem socializing - it's me.  I'm worried about meeting the other parents.

We had orientation on Friday with all the parents, and I knew the vibe I wanted to go for - polished but casual, put-together but fun, stylish but approachable, young* but not irresponsible.  Stripes were an obvious answer, but the accessories were really hard for me.  Heels felt too corporate and dressed up.  Black flats felt too boring.  My new red loafers (which I adore, don't get me wrong) felt a bit too mom-ish for a first meeting.  The gold flats were the right choice, but it left me choosing jewelry - again, pearls felt too stuffy, and gold chains too trendy.  So, I stacked on a zillion black and metallic bangles and some star stud earrings and finally felt right.

Especially with red lipstick.

Am I the only person to feel unbelievable anxiety at meeting other parents?  Is this just part of the Mom Guilt that's so rampant in parenting today?  Why does something like a playgroup seem like such a big deal - when we all know that our kids are mostly going to spend time eating books instead of reading them?

*Note:  Yes, I realize I'm not a young parent.  But tell that to everyone else in DC.  I'm literally the youngest mom at the playground pretty much every time, we were the youngest couple in our birthing class, and I'm pretty sure I was the youngest at our playgroup meeting.  Which can be annoying and intimidating at the same time.