Do you go on a moms’ night out and talk about … your kids? Does morning dropoff chit-chat feel  like a middle school cafeteria?  In this episode we talk about deepening bonds with your mom friends, and keeping those relationships going when your kids graduate from whatever preschool or karate class brought you together in the first place.  In this episode, we discuss:   how to make the leap from a “mom chat” to a mom friend whether you have to be a phone talker to be a good mom friend (Amy hopes not) what to do when it’s your third kid and you’re plumb out of friend-making bandwidth the Bechdel test and its useful application to your mom-friend conversations (if you don’t know “Bobby’s mom’s” first name, try harder) imposter syndrome, sadly universal in the mom friend world what to do when your kids don’t want to be friends anymore but you still like each other how to maintain your relationships with friends who aren’t parents (remember them?) We love this advice from Darcy Shapiro for Scary Mommy: “How Making Mom Friends Feels Just Like Dating” A wise friend once told me about the rule of threes- that is, she always makes sure when she likes someone (male, female, friend or date), she makes a point of hanging out with that person three times in quick succession, thereby never letting the momentum lull. After three times, a level of comfort is generally established whereby it becomes acceptable once again to take things for granted and get lazy. I fully ascribe to this strategy.   If you’re looking for another great parenting podcast, check out Joyful Courage. Hosted by Casey O’Roarty, Joyful Courage is a “conscious parenting podcast” featuring real talk with parenting experts designed to support, inspire and inform those of us on the parent journey. Casey believes our kids choose us, and that the challenges they present us with are exactly the challenges we need. How’s that for perspective?    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices