I'm in need of your assistance today. I know I have a wide age range of readers and also various life stages being represented between the 5 people who read my blog, but I am in need of your brain power today should you have nothing else to do with the holidays and you want to count this as your "act of goodwill towards men (or woman as the case may be)" for the holiday season.
I am meeting with our Mom2Mom group leader today and she is asking for my advice on how to draw in the younger stay at home moms that have preschoolers (any kids under schoolage) in their home. Our mom group has drifted into more of the school age mommies and they are wanting to find out what might draw us young-folk back in. I can think of a few things off the top of my head that would draw me in, but I would love to know what you think. What would drag you out of bed to go meet with other moms and have a time of fellowship.
My ideas were:
Have the start time be no earlier than 10:00 a.m. (I can barely get out the door by 10 with the 2 kids)
Have a "Welcome Day" for the preschool age moms that is fun and festive with food and fellowship just to get them in the door.
Make sure the younger moms are at least at a table so they know there will be someone there that they have something in common with.
Start a babysitting Co-op outside of our meeting times.
Offer talks on quick meals for the family, potty training tips, raising godly boys and godly little girls.
This is my starting point and I need your thoughts as well should you be up for sharing. My brain appreciates your assistance my mom friends. It really does.
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7 comments:
Childcare would get me out of bed as well as food. It's that simple. I agree with the 10 am time. Another thing you might think of is for working moms, maybe doing it in the evening. I went to a bible study in the evening and was shocked at the number of women who wouldn't have been able to join during the daytime.
Maybe one of your theme days could be "special ways to entertain your toddlers during those long winter daytime hours". I was actually getting ready to post a blog on that one myself!
I not officially in this category any more but I still remember: Childcare, food, quick and easy make and take crafts (practical things not junk) time to socialize and make connections with other moms who are in the same stage of life (while my kids are being cared for)
Our moms group is almost all toddlers/preschool. We meet from 10-noon so we can all get our kids home for nap. We call it "playgroup" which certainly gears it toward younger kids.
We also do a moms Bible study every OTHER week in the evening so working moms can attend and we don't have to arrange childcare (dads watch the kids) - it is Wed from 7:30 until 9pm.
Hmmm...an ornament exchange? Next year we are going to do a soup exchange - kind of like a cookie exchange except you bring some soup and take others home.
We put a LOT of effort into meals when new babies come. We make sure every new birth gets meals every other day for the first week or two. You wanna hook younger moms with younger kids? - start them at birth!
I would say our most successful thing is our yahoo group for moms. The truth is younger moms are the ones most searching for advice - so they use it the most! We trade baby clothes, ask what to do in the midst of sickness, ask for doctor referrals, book recommendation, how to handle behavioural issues, school recommendations, etc. It promotes a sense of community and draws moms in.
The last thing I would suggest is identifying a mom or two to really focus on this age group. All younger moms want friends with people suffering through their same drama! :)
I actually teach preschool out of my home now and I still have a preschool age child (and younger) but I remember when I didn't have any kids in elementary school. I very often felt out of the loop, even here in our small community. I am always looking for ways to get mommies together! I'm not sure what mom2mom is but some things I've found helpful are to make sure you invite as many people personally as you can, they are a lot more likely to come. Also, keep an eye on those that might need extra help (for example my friend that has TWO sets of twins as opposed to my one set). The after 10 thing is huge and evenings work really well too because then they can leave kids with hubby (if they're lucky). Another thing you could do is plan a "preschool" day with story time, singing time, snacks and an activity. Get the moms involved or even have one or two people take the kids off to "preschool" while the mommies do their thing. You could even rotate which Mom's do the preschool and which get to go visit with the others. Just a few suggestions. Good luck!
Hi Kara!
I remember this happening to the moms group I belonged to a few years ago in Illinois; some of us with littles, some with school aged, some with both.
One thing we did (since our group was just a moms group that met for the kids to play while we supervised and chatted - no babysitting) was had a once a month night out/book club meeting at a local restaurant. It was nice to have a night out on the calendar and we all were big readers.
We also planned "field trips" as a group to the local pumpkin patch (Oct) or to see Santa (Dec). Those kind of outings can be daunting with weefolk but go smoother and are just more fun when you go with a bunch of mom friends.
Nice to meetcha and hope that helps!
I agree with the masses on the food and childcare...
I will also say my favorite MOPS meeting last year was about ideas to keep Christ the center of your family holiday. LOVED IT!
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