I realised that I have very few friends, especially after I became a mum. How or where can I go to look for friends?

A sure-fire way to meet locals, of course, is to put your children in local schools; you’ll most certainly meet Tiger mums and non-Tigers alike, and you may find you have a lot in common with them and form lasting friendships. But if your own children are unwilling to cooperate in this scheme – and they can be so stubborn – or if you don’t have children to use for your purposes, what then? Here are some tips. 1. Join your local community club. There are more than 100 all over Singapore; Cairnhill Community Club, for instance, is right across from Newton Circus. Tanglin Community Club, meanwhile, boasts that it is “the only CC to offer a Guzheng course” – and you’ve been searching all over for one of those! The website isn’t the easiest to use, so just walk into your nearest centre and pick up a brochure of classes. Enjoy a coffee while you’re there. 2. Get a “Passion” card. That thing that every cashier asks you for for will give you significant discounts when you go to sign up for a Guzheng or other course at a club. There are literally hundreds of classes across the island from cooking to crafts, all very reasonably priced and all populated by Singaporeans! 3. Join the National Library of Singapore: it has hundreds of branches (with cafés) and hundreds of events, and guess who goes to those events? Strike up a conversation with someone over the book they are reading. Note that many of the classes fill up right away – I was closed out of a Pastels Course and a Hawker Food Tour, but you can register online. For serious readers there is the National Book Club; it meets every two months and is free. 4. The Singapore Gardening Society has been around a long time; it meets regularly and is very welcoming to those interested in plants and gardening. Classes at the Botanical Gardens attract lots of locals. 5. The Southeast Asian Ceramic Society is group of serious collectors that welcomes new members to share their beautiful collections and enjoy excellent speakers and programmes. You must meet a collector first, so send the president an email outlining your interest. 6. Take a class at the Singapore Calligraphy Association (click on “About Us” and “English Version”) where you can study calligraphy and brush-painting even as a beginner. Non-credit classes are available at NUS, NTU, NAFA and LaSalle College of Art. 7. The professional women’s organisation Prime Time has 400+ members from 30 countries, including a good number of Singaporeans, and its very existence is intended to help you connect with people with similar interests. 8. Meet Singaporeans by volunteering at one of hundreds of local charitable organisations. You might want to start with SCWO, the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations.

Personally I feel that it is okay to have just a few friends as compared to plenty because naturally most will start drifting away and become hi-bye friends. I will like to spend more time with my children instead of socialising when they are still young. But if you are really keen, there quite a lot of mummy groups on Facebook. e.g. SG50 mummies and daddies (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2015SG50mummiesanddaddies/?fref=ts) most of them have whatsapp group as well.

For me, it is the reversed -- most of my close friends are married and with kids and I have no problems hanging out with them and their kids. In fact, I treat it like a training ground for when I become a mother, I get a lot of useful tips, anecdotes and funny stories whenever I meet up with my mommy friends. Maybe you can seek out your current pool of non-mommy friends -- there could be some who are just like me and actually love being around moms and kids.

i guess it's really common. You just find it hard to meet friends who are single or without kids as they are unable to understand the worries or how busy we can actually be. Best way is to make more mummies friends on forum or groups.

I joined those groups but eventually they are broken up into smaller groups and that's how we continue talking to each other. Mostly according to our locations so that we can have mini play dates at times. Tinder for mums will be a really great idea!

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Tinder for mums! Great idea :) Most of the mummy groups on FB will host occasional meetups - have you been to any? I know lots of people who have met great friends that way.

Yeah I feel the same too. And it's hard to meet friends who are non parent. The differences in interest, schedule etc :(

@reine I don't like those groups because it's too big to really make close friends. If only there is a tinder for mums. Hahaha

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