I'm excited to find this! I'm a writer, belly dancer, teacher, and mother to four children, one step daugther (steppish, we're getting handfasted on the 30th of June), and with one more on the way. My partner is a visual artist. It does seem like everyone I meet in any of the fields we're involved in have no children and sometimes it seems next to impossible to connect. When I was a child (I'm the youngest of 5), my parents were hippy~artist types, but all of their friends seemed to have children and we'd gather and there would be plenty for us to do. Now, if I want to connect with other artists, i have to finagle a babysitter, arrive late and leave early for the most part. And that doesn't even include finding the time to create. I used to do that at night when it was just my daughters and me and I was unhappily married to someone who either worked overnight and later went out, or drank himself silly, but now I find I want my nights with my honey, so we haven't figured out the creating thing completely. I do a lot when my youngest naps and the others are in school. When I choregraph, I include my kids, they love shimmying, etc. But, I can't write with them around, I'd take their heads off if they bothered me. I'm too intense then. My partner creates big, so that makes things difficult for him now that's he's lacking a studio. And he uses a lot of materials not suitable for children to work with, so he can't create with them. Any suggestions? I'll stop rambling now.