After a week of temper tantrums for Toddler Tips’ Tantrum Week, I don’t know about you, but I’m in need of a Mommy fill ‘er up.  And, nothing does the trick like a few special treats with Mommy in mind.  So, without further ado, what say we kick-off Toddler Tips’ Mommy Indulgences week! Click back every day this week for quick, easy and inexpensive ideas for helping Mommies regroup and refresh their minds and spirits.

Today, we celebrate the great resources available for Mommy networking online!  Yes, as busy mothers, we don’t always have the time to get together with friends for lunch or schedule a girl’s night out.  Sometimes accommodating our family’s activities doesn’t always leave time for book clubs or social clubs or Bible studies.  But, the world wide web is chock full of Mom networks that can offer everything from cyber cocktail parties and cooking classes to online support groups and reading clubs.  While our online friendships may not (and probably shouldn’t) take the place of face-to-face interaction, they can provide an added boost of encouragement and fresh ideas whenever we can scrape together a few moments with the mouse.  You never know. You may just find a recipe for supper tonight, the answer to your baby’s sleeping problems or the best bath gel you’ve every used. Here are five great community choices:

Twitter Moms
Featured in the March issue of Redbook, this community of twitter users founded by Megan Calhoun is a great way to connect with Moms and share stories, ideas and more.  Conceived specifically as a tool for finding fellow Mommies on Twitter, the community offers live tweeting right on the site, a blog-feed widget and the usual discussions and groups to browse. It evens offers a great FireFox toolbar that can keep you updated on all your Twitter Mom friends! 

Work It Mom
This online community is targeted specifically for working moms.  It offers great tips and resources for balancing work and home responsibilities as well as blog listings, Q&As, discussions and a marketplace.  It is a great resource for quick tips and Mommy lifesavers that are submitted by real moms.

Grow Together
This smaller community is a companion site to the Root & Sprout online webzine.  Root & Sprout is a creative parenting resource focused on nurturing children.  Grow Together is a great place to read more from the site’s team of Mom writers as well as weigh in on topics of discussion.  They also offer lots of great give-aways and opportunities to review products of interest to Mommies.

CafeMom
Another great way to connect to other moms, CafeMom offer great “Buzz” channels for various kid age groups as well as home & garden, beauty & style or entertaining.  Its “thought bubbles” are the CafeMom answer to twitter and offer a fun and quick way to find another Mom in the same mood you’re in.

Type-A Mom
This one never ceases to make me giggle.  It’s the ultimate juice-you-up site. The home page description says it all, as a Mommy, “you wipe butts and kick butt.”  Ha!  You can look for Mommies to connect with by mom stage, mom topic, mom types and even by age.  This site offers a wealth of information as well as great directory of “mom-made” goods and services.

So, when you’re low on time but in need of some fellow-Mommy encouragement, check out one of these online communities and benefit from the experience of other Mommies just like you. 

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