Mother’s everywhere…it’s almost time for MOPS!

How many of you use a mop anymore?  I’ll tell you, I don’t, I like my swiffer jet.  It rubs the dirt in a nice clean line instead of a circle…Just picking.

The excitement is in the air and I hope that you catch it.  Have you ever heard of MOPS?  (And no, I’m not referring to a cleaning tool.)

 I’m talking about Mothers Of Preschoolers! 

Attention to every mom expecting, to every mom who has a kindergarten age child, and every age in between, MOPS is designed for you!  Do you feel like you’re alone in this mommy thing?  Or that you don’t have time for anything else?  Take a deep breath and continue reading as I share with you about MOPS in my life and how it changed my life forever…Ready?

Beep…beep…beep…beep…

I roll over to turn off the alarm.  My husband asks if we have time to snuggle.  I force my eyes to take a peek at what time it is- 6:30 a.m.  My brain turns on quickly as we have twenty minutes to get the kids ready and out the door for school.

“Not this morning,” I reply and run out of the room hollering to the kids to wake up, we slept in.  Ten minutes later, they are still having trouble getting out of bed.

“If you don’t get dressed in 5 minutes I’ll pick out your clothes for you!”  That gets them up and out the door we go.

The last child is dropped off and all is quiet. As I sit at the red light I glance at the car next to me.  Inside the mom is frantically searching for something in the back seat as she keeps a forward eye on the light.  She tries to calm her crying child as the preschooler points to the floor.  Her face is turning red.  As soon as the light changes she grabs the steering wheel firmly and floors the gas pedal.

I smile as I remember how those moments seemed like they would never end, and yet here I am driving home by myself.  I am reminded of the developments my children achieved through those crucial years of growing from infants to kindergartners, and the growth of myself as a mom.  The task was great but I had help.  They say it takes an entire village to raise a child; my “village” was MOPS.

The first time I ever heard the name MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) was from my oldest sister Gwen, who insisted that I attend just one meeting.  At first my excuse was not today I’m busy or that’s too far to drive.  I even thought to myself, I don’t know any of those women and why would I want too?  I have friends…  Quite a variety of excuses, I know.  I’m sure I had given her others, but that didn’t stop her. Every time a meeting would come up, she would ask, and because of her persistent gentleness and kindness, I finally decided to go.  She had bugged me long enough.

I, (then expecting my third child), loaded the kiddos and drove one and a half hours to MOPS.

To be continued…

Have you ever been asked to a MOPS meeting?  What was your first thought?

You can check out more about MOPS at www.mops.org

( a portion of this story was published in Dec. 2011 issue of Mom*tasic Magazine)