About PlanetParent

Petro Pretorius [23 August 2008] -

You might ask yourself why did I start this web site, am I so much of a know it all mum? Do I have so much to say? The answer these questions are no and yes.

I do not necessarily know more about motherhood or parenting than anyone else, but I do have a lot to say. I don't think I am qualified to provide you with advice and guidance but I do want to share some of my experiences from which you might learn or at least laugh at.

When Mia was six months old she got sick and had to go to hospital, I was stuck in a situation where I had no real support structure to help me cope.

As a working mother who did not have close relationships with other mothers in the area and thus found myself with a number of problems:

• Found another daymom – if you read my piece on daymoms you would know why.
• Try and get some work done – my boss was understanding but only to a point.
• Get Mia to physio – this happened daily and everything else was scheduled around this.
• Go insane slowly!!! – this was speeded up as point 1 & 2 took their toll.

I thought to myself that some of my friends have these really close relationships with people with children of the same age, and if they wondered they emailed and got an answer. If they need some support they had some.

I on the other side do not have this, I went to antenatal classes but as the hospital where I gave birth is relatively far away none of the people in my class is at hand, and the only one with whom I bonded with has gone incognito. There was no other person in the same ward as I was, so no luck with that...

I have no time for myself let alone time to stalk people with babies aged in the relative proximity of Mia to allow me to form close relationships with them so we can baby talk - this would come across as creepy.

So I decided to do the only thing I really know how to do (well), and that is to design a web site.

Thus this is the start of a community that will allow people who are in a similar situation to find some support.

The aim is to help out as much as possible, create the mechanism for the rest of the community to assist as well and thus try and provide some way within which we are all able to raise our kids in an environment where we are confident and supported.

The name came about when I told my husband that I feel like an alien, there are a lot of advice but so many of what is said is confusing and makes your struggle as a new mother all the more daunting.

PlanetParent is your site - use it well and be honest so we are all able to benefit from your experiences whether these were good or bad.