The Babymomma's Club

You might not have more in common than your stretch marks, but finding other working moms to bond with is key to your success.
When I was a youngin' I couldn't get enough of the Babysitter's Club book series.

There was something about the strong bond among Kristin, Claudia, Mary Anne and Stacey that made me want to move to their fictional hometown of Stoneybrook, Connecticut. Looking back, those girls had a developed a brilliant concept. For those of your who never read any of the nearly 200 books in the series, the enterprising 7th graders would gather every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 5:30 to 6:00 pm to wait for calls from neighborhood parents looking for sitters. They also used that time to talk about their bosses (neighborhood moms) and their crazy job duties (one time the girls showed up for a regular babysitting job and instead of a kid it was a ghost!)

Upon reading a story in this weekend's Los Angeles Times about the popularity of moms' groups in Hollywood, I couldn't help getting nostalgic. A growing number of Hollywood executives and producers are having children and looking to each other for support in weekly or monthly meetings. Like the girls in the BSC, they use this time for business as well. Many of the women say this bonding goes beyond mommy groups to the boardrooms and negotiation meetings.

"The first thing you do is exchange photos of your kids," Andrea Giannetti, an executive vice president with Sony, told the Times. "Before, you might have asked, 'Have you been to that new restaurant?' to break the ice. Talking about kids is a way to bond more intimately as human beings."

Studio execs as human beings. Who knew? If you don't already have some sort of working mommy group, look into it. Put an ad on Craigslist if you have a lack of other ideas. There's nothing better than the support of a few good friends you know you can count on, even if its only from 5:30 to 6:00 pm. -Joy Hepp