Have you made friends (real friends) with other mums at the school gates? Do you do that coffee morning thing? Do you throw yourself into school life or just say a quick hello while you're standing around waiting? I'm a naturally sociable person and if someone asks me round for coffee it's my natural instinct to say yes. But I'm not sure how much I actually have in common with the other mums that do the coffee thing. I hope that doesn't sound like a dreadful thing to say. I just feel vaguely uncomfortable with the coffee thing: I have a 2-year old and I work three days a week so my two days with the girls are quite precious - when I drop 4-year old at school I'd kind of rather take 2 year old to play group or the playground than go to someone's house and natter - but I do like being sociable and find it hard to say no. At the moment all the regulars are SAHM's who obviously earn and deserve a morning taking it easy having coffee, whereas I feel guilty and wonder why I say yes when I'm not entirely comfortable with it all. I'm also a real leftie and they so aren't. Maybe I'm just a saddo who hasn't got the strength of character to be selective about her friends. Don't really want advice, would just be interested in hearing your experiences. Maybe there are hundreds of thousands of mums sitting round having coffee with each other on a Friday morning, whilst wondering why.