Creating Community- What’s Next? February 15, 2009
I meet so many mommas each week who are struggling with postpartum depression or anxiety. I hear so many stories of recovery, of women who didn’t really begin to feel confident as mothers until their children where long past the baby years.
I was so lonely when Joey was born. I knew all about being a mom, that wasn’t new for me but I had no community of mothers. Finding a group of women who support me, who care about me and share in my desire to parent with connection and peace, has made life so much richer. And I know that this group helped me successfully VBAC, nurse longer, discipline more playfully and more lovingly. And I have learned so much about birth and becoming mother and healing from this community.
So- we need to reach out. If we are going to make a difference in our larger community, our little community is going to have to find more pregnant women, more women just beginning to move towards parenting. I would love to see Parenting Oasis really develop a strong voice for new parents in our area.
We met Saturday to discuss ways Parenting Oasis can better serve parents working outside of the home and we have decided to begin to offer a Returning to Work group monthly on Saturdays. I will start putting together some new fliers and postcards. Look for them at Parenting Oasis in the next week weeks. If each of us would reach out to the new parents in our lives and our neighborhoods, we will begin to make a greater impact.
Thanks to everyone for the gift this community is to my family and to the families I work with.
And come in next Saturday and make a Valentine for someone you love!
Maureen
