How to meet other Stay at Home Dads in Salem, OR?

December 12, 2005 11:16 PM

My family (consisting of myself, my wife, and my 10-month old daughter) recently moved to Salem, OR. For financial and parenting reasons, my wife works and I am a stay-at-home-dad (SAHD). I need more adult contact during the day! We've recently been attending parent/infant swimming classes at the local YMCA, but I'd really like to meet other SAHDs in the Salem area. I've searched online, but haven't come up with much. Any suggestions?
posted by smithmac_99 to human relations (8 comments total)

Hi. I am a SAHM (well, somewhat WAHM, but mostly SAHM) with a son the same age. I live in Canada, so my experience and resources will not be the same. Do you have a community health unit, perhaps staffed by the nurses who might have visited/contacted your wife after she came home from the hospital? Or is there another community health centre or something like that? I attend parent-infant drop-ins run by nurses from my health unit. The nurses also tend to be aware of all the different resources for parents.

Are you only interested in SAHDs? A few SAHDs attend "babytime" at my local library. Our main library also runs something called Man in the Moon, a special babytime just for dads. It is on the weekend, so it includes working dads, but it might expand your network.

Would you consider putting together an informal group of SAHDs? Maybe try advertising at the library, community centre, Y, Craigslist, etc. I bet you could easily put together a group that meets for strolls around a particular neighbourhood, say every Wednesday at 2 pm. WHen my community health nurse drop-in was on hiatus for the summer, a group of us convinced the community centre to let us meet in vacant rooms. When the library's babytime was on hiatus, we also met in a park for the summer. You might be able to get a room through a church or community centre. (I live in a downtown, so it's impossible to meet in a living room. However, if you're in a more suburban setting, perhaps you have access to a living room or family room that can seat a few people and their strollers!)

I suppose you've noticed that you have the top-ranked post for "Salem stay at home dad" in Google. :)
posted by acoutu at 11:39 PM on December 12, 2005

I'm not a Dad nor do I live in Salem, but I was thinking you might meet SAHD's in the same type of places you'd meet SAHM's - the Library, parks, McDonalds, etc. Be sure to ask your daughter's pediatrician about resources, mine seems to know about everything in town. Salem is surely large enough to have some sort of SAHD group.

I know it's hard to get adult contact when you stay at home, especially when your child is still so young.
posted by LadyBonita at 12:06 AM on December 13, 2005

I have met SAHD's and SAHM's via baby swimming, baby gymclass, the toy library, playgrounds, my own gym, etc.
I do not know if you like to chat. During the day, there are always SAH parents in the "local"chatrooms.
posted by kudzu at 5:24 AM on December 13, 2005

smithmac - I have lived in Salem for ten years. I will forewarn you that it's a community that can be challenging as far as meeting new people. You might consider checking out the coffee shops downtown, as each has a slightly different clientele. I recommend the Coffee House Cafe, or the Sbux on Chemeketa and Liberty. Borders might be another place to find dad's and their kids.

I'd also recommend checking out the area for interest groups in the areas you enjoy - flyfishing/hiking (the Mazama club), etc. Be patient. There's a lot of great community here but it's not nearly as easily accessed as in Portland.

Good luck. If you guys need a doctor/OB/ped I can recommend some.
posted by docpops at 7:09 AM on December 13, 2005

Riverfront Park and the Carousel are good spots to see other parents and kids during the weekdays when the weather permits.
posted by docpops at 7:17 AM on December 13, 2005

See if there's a local chapter of MOMS Club in your area. They offer precisely what you're looking for. Contrary to what the name would imply, SAHDs are welcome too.

Send them an email to find out if there's a chapter in Salem.
posted by Wild_Eep at 8:22 AM on December 13, 2005

AFAIK, each chapter of MOMS Club decides individually if they accept dads as members, and most only offer "associate membership" to dads, grandmas, nannies etc. which means they can't vote on club stuff and can be excluded from other things like "MOMS Night Out." I was a MOMS Club pres for 2 years and though it never came up with our chapter I am pretty sure this is how it is handled in the by-laws.
posted by Biblio at 10:05 AM on December 13, 2005

I grew up in Salem, I think your best bet would be checking out library activities. When I was a kid I remember going to a few story readings/etc and my parents met some other parents there.

Unfortunately Salem is a hard place to meet people as there aren't too many social activities/events outside of school stuff. The downtown area is also fairly dead... although I've been in Corvallis for five years now so things may have changed.
posted by asterisk at 2:19 PM on December 13, 2005