MOMMYCON?

This last weekend I attended the Mecca of hippie mommas gathering together in one place. Something called MOMMYCON, just outside Chicago. If you're not privy to what this con is, it's basically  babies, boobies, bellies, products for babies, boobies and bellies, a place to take pictures to let everyone know about babies, boobies and bellies and then of course you'll need a place to discuss babies, boobies and bellies. So what better place than the room affectionately referred to as Vagina Village.  Seems pretty guy friendly right? I went on an impromptu invite from my wife. She was planning to attend with my sister and my niece who is about the same age as my youngest child at 5 months.

I agreed to take them and bring them back but it wasn't until I was in the hotel room with them that I was convinced to attend the CON. This wasn't some easy decision for me to make. I've been to conventions before, ones that are much larger than this, but I knew if I attended a primarily female convention revolving solely around "Mothering" that I was going to be That Dad that got dragged along by his wife. To keep it blunt, I was afraid of looking like a whipped dude. In truth and as a placeholder for another conversation, as men, we shouldn't be stigmatized for wanting to be an integral part of the nurturing side of the upbringing of our children. But still I felt that my presence was going to be an unwelcome energy. Picture it with me, you've been walking around an expo floor for 20 minutes when you pause for a moment to wait for the rest of the group to catch up. After waiting for 2 minutes you realize you've stopped right in front of a huge rack of Diva Cups and "mommy pads" and 2 women are waiting for you to move so they can get a closer look. Don't know what a Diva Cup is? A quick Google search will do a much better job of explaining than I could elaborate on. Did you go look it up? Awkward moment right? Or how about having to hear the patronizing sounds of a vendor saying something like "Don't you just love having to come to MOMMYCON?" while you're looking through a spread of products that you are most likely going to own some of at some point throughout raising a child?

But regardless of how awful that all sounded I knew that the Ergo Baby carrier I'd been using for the last four and a half years was wearing out and beginning to make me believe I was carrying around a small elephant rather than a 4 month old infant and if there was ever going to be a time to look at getting a new one this was it. I said to the girls, "Ok, I guess I'm gonna go be a mommy for the day." at which point they affectionately crowned  me with the title of Dadmom. So I hustled some last minute deal to pick up a ticket for half price and pumped myself up mentally and went at it full force. 100%. If I was going to be there then I was going to be the best damn Dadmom in the place.

So we walk into the venue and from everything I can see it is exactly what I was expecting. Pink decor everywhere, pregnant women, moms with babies attached to every surface of their bodies and the handful of men slowly trotting around behind their women. You know like they do when their women play the ever elusive game of "follow me through the mall maze of cloth racks and don't question me as to my reasoning for passing the same rack 3 times,  there's something there I might want!".

To my surprise though, the feeling was short lived. These women were different, accepting. They supported the idea of the nurturing father and support through partnership. There is something very special about this group of women. Like a secret society of women who get it. Who seem to be out to better one another. It was super refreshing. Perhaps this is the group of women who will change the mommy trend from trying to do it alone into the normalization or rebirth of the "it takes a village" idea.

These women have created products, started businesses, and taken the time to teach one another. Experts from different fields coming together to encourage and educate about topics like; baby wearing, breastfeeding, birthing, cloth diapering, holistic health and eco friendly parenting products. They truly care and I can't say enough good things about this group and their supporters. I hope to see this event grow bigger and bigger and that they make it even more inclusive to fathers (maybe through more father speaking sessions "hint hint")

After spending 9 hours dipping in and out of the expo floor and into and out of different speaker events, I left feeling good. Better than good. I was genuinely happy and I found my new carrier. But more important than that was the fact that my wife was genuinely happy not only because she was there but because We were there together Mommy and Dadmom and you can bet we'll be back next year.