Are you a mom with young children, or do you have a little one on the way? For many new mothers, the transition to parenthood is full of surprises, and it can also be isolating.
“I knew that I was missing a piece of community in my life,” says Priscilla, a Coronado mother of two young boys. “Being a stay-at-home mom can sometimes cause a sense of permanent hibernation.”
Can you relate?
Enter the local Coronado chapter of MOMS Club®, a group designed specifically to connect and serve at-home mothers. The organization started in 1983 when a California mother was tired of being at home and wanted to meet other at-home children and mothers. She couldn’t find any groups that met during the day, so she started MOMS Club to serve mothers like herself. There are now 1,500 chapters in the U.S. with over 100,000 members, and volunteer mothers are starting international chapters as well.
Vanessa Case, the Coronado chapter’s volunteer president, first joined MOMS Club when she was a litigation associate for a boutique law firm in downtown Los Angeles. She was pregnant with her oldest son at the time, and planned to return to work part-time after he was born. “While I couldn’t make it to every [MOMS Club] outing, I made an effort to attend as much as I could and I always felt refreshed after spending time with other women and their kids. Ultimately, I made the decision to become a stay-at-home mother, which was not an easy one considering the time, money, and effort I had put into my career. Many of the women I met through MOMS Club went through the same struggle and they were a great support system when I made the transition to staying home.”
After their second son was born, Vanessa and her husband made the decision to move out of LA to a more family-friendly town with a slower pace of life. They chose Coronado. “I immediately looked for a MOMS Club chapter in the area because I was so involved in LA. I was surprised that Coronado didn’t have a chapter. I thought starting a chapter would be a way to get myself out there and make new friends.”
She was right.
Vanessa posted on the Coronado Moms Facebook page in January 2014 to see if any mothers would be interested in helping to start a local chapter. Responses poured in, and soon Vanessa was organizing the first gathering for her new chapter in Tidelands Park.
One of the first women to join was Clare Burrows, who is living in Coronado while her Australian Navy husband works with the U.S. Navy. “We have similar groups back in Australia called Mothers Groups and Playgroups, and I had not been able to really find something like it here,” Clare explained. “The fact that it was mothers with young children was the real attraction. I wanted to get out and meet new people in the area we had just moved to.”
Now the group organizes several activities each week. A recent sampling includes a ferry boat ride across the bay to the splash park, a baby play date, a Bunco night for moms, a SEAL boat tour, and a causal play date at a member’s house with mac n’ cheese for the kids and a summer activities planning session for the moms. The club also has several monthly activities, including afternoons on the beach, evenings at Sunset Park for soccer and pizza, and a moms-only Book Club at a local restaurant. Several members also gathered recently to make blankets with their kids for Project Linus, the charity the chapter supports that provides blankets for children in need.
Maggie, the club’s treasurer, explained why she loves MOMS Club. “My favorite thing, I just discovered, is one of our monthly set play dates. This is why: Late afternoon is the witching hour for my kids. I’m trying to get dinner on the table, the kids want to burn off some energy, and we are all a little tired from the day. If we stay at home, there will be whining, but there’s not enough time to go out on a big adventure. So in comes MOMS Club’s monthly beach afternoon.
“While I was standing on the beach last month, I heard myself say to another mom, I’m a better parent when we get outside’ and it clickedthis is good for all of us! Visiting our beaches (and parks) is good for my kids! When we are at the beach with MOMS Club, I know that my kids will have someone to play with, they will have a great time, and they will be tired when we get home. And it’s really terrific for me because I know that there will be other moms to help play “zone defense” and I get to talk to moms I like. We all go home happy, and it really feels like a community.”
Coronado’s MOMS Club is growing rapidly, especially with the monthly member meetings at the Spreckels Park playground. The board sets up a table with coffee, muffins, and informational flyers for all who are interested.
The active, enthusiastic board also has many hopes and dreams for the future of the Club.
“We are now over 30 members and growing!” says Vanessa. “I would like to see our chapter continue to grow and eventually include a lot more moms of school-aged children. The majority of our members have children who are preschool-age or younger. I’d love to see those moms continue their involvement in our chapter as their children go off to school so we can continue to support one another through the highs and lows of motherhood.”
There is a place for every mother in MOMS Club of Coronado! If you are interested in joining, the only requirements for mothers in Coronado are signing a short liability form and paying an annual fee of $20. For more information, visit the MOMS Club of Coronado website.
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Becca Garber
Staff Writer
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