Kate & Emily

First you need to get buddies! We’ve found that even 2 makes a group, and 8 is probably more than enough, and any number in between works well.

 

1          Rack your brains for anyone you know who’s a single parent too and make a list. You may only of heard a friend talking about them, rather than know them personally. It doesn’t matter – write them all down as this is your starting point. If you’ve got enough names just from this then you’re off, get their phone numbers if you’ve got gaps and start calling.

 

 

2          Ask people at school if they know any single parents in your child’s year, or one year either side, and then you can approach them in the playground.  

 

 

3          If you need more names or ideas of people then ask your mates, and ask as many as you can. In the way people send on joke emails to their entire address book you send out an email explaining what you’re up to and asking for people they know who might be interested. Only ask for names and details of people who they know personally so that you’ll end up building a buddy group that consists of people you have at least a friend in common with.

 

NB People tend to be poor at calling or replying to things so we’ve always found we have the most success if we call them and track them down. It feels awkward to start with until you realize that the only reason why they didn’t call you was because they simply hadn’t got round to it or felt a bit shy about it. They’re always delighted to hear from you when you phone them.

 

 

It’s all in the selling! Having said that, we’ve never found it a hard sell as most people enjoy meeting others in a similar situation, especially if they know there’s a mix of fun and support on offer.

 

This is what we think you could say when you’re asking people to join: