I am pretty desperate to find some like-minded parents to be around, but I have no idea how to do it. I am a college student at a major university, so surrounded by young non-parents, live in a pretty small town (college students are 60% of the population), and I am really shy to top it off. I met one family that had a similar parenting style but they moved states away only 2 weeks after meeting them. 
I have literally one friend and I feel so uncomfortable with the way she parents her children that I do not let my son go around her (threatens to spank them with a hairbrush, spatula, ect. and DOES it.), nor do I like to be around her when her children are present because of how much it upsets me. It is a similar situation with my family- I love them dearly, but they smoke, spank, yell, ext. (not nearly as extreme though) I have lots of fun being with them sometimes, but I don't like my son around them most of the time. This is starting to make me feel super isolated!
Does anyone have any ideas on how to find like-minded parents/friends? I have tried going to the park, but my son has ASD and so mostly I just get weird looks. And, gentle parenting is NOT common here. In fact, I don't know a single person who even breastfed their child. 
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