When I joined MOPs (Mothers of Preschoolers) I was a brand new mom. Emery was 4 months old and I had no idea what I was doing. I had one local mom friend- shout out Stephanie! Most of my days I sat at home by myself bored to tears (oh, there were so many tears) and texting my mom begging her to come over. I was working part time from home which only worked because I made Emery's nap time during my shift. I specifically remember one time sitting on her bedroom floor with one arm through her crib rails patting her little butt and shushing while simultaneously working on the computer with my other hand. I was four months into the whole motherhood thing, dealing with postpartum depression (which nobody liked to talk about) and thinking I had been tricked into having kids. "You'll be such a great mom! Your babies will be so cute! Y'all need to hurry up and have kids already! When are you having kids?" And then, as if they were tricking you into joining their secret hell club all along, I heard these things after Emery was born: "Sucks, huh? You never really knew what tired meant, huh? Just wait until she starts teething! Just wait until she has her first cold! This is so HARD, huh????"
Where the (insert profanity of your choice here) was my TRIBE?? Yeah, clearly it takes a village... Anybody have directions to mine?? I thought when I brought a human into the world little tiki huts would pop up all around me and offer to hold my baby while I used the bathroom by myself?? Who signed me up for this? Are there refunds? Where's all the people that invite me to play dates and girls nights out and point me back to Jesus when the amount of spit up in my home is forcing me to lose my religion?!
Enter MOPS.
You see, MOPs moms don't care if you breastfeed or bottle feed, use disposable diapers or cloth diapers, co-sleep or use duct tape to keep your child in their own room (just an example...ahem), there's no judgement if you show up in your yoga pants or use it as your twice a month occasion to wear full makeup and blowdry your hair. Because at MOPs, everybody is in the same boat. Everybody GETS you. Whether it's celebrating a new pregnancy, or walking through a loss of a precious baby, we're all moms. And moms of littles, to boot! The spit up on your shoulder and coffee stain on your pants are welcome at MOPs. Whether you come to socialize or use it as a 2.5 hour break from your kids with a free breakfast, you're welcome at MOPs. The relationships I have made in the past two years are relationships I know will last. These are my people.
So, they say it takes a village to raise a child, and I agree. But here's what I've learned: sometimes you have to build that village. Put yourself out there and open your mind/heart/home and reach out to other mamas who are trying to figure it out just like you are. I promise you that you won't regret it.
I'm so excited to be Coordinator of that same MOPs group this year; I know the Lord is going to do BIG things. Come join us!
