Moms Clubs
Every Mom - and Dad - can use a little extra support, and clubs are a great place to find that needed support. Our MOMS club has been a great blessing to me - our families weren't able to help us through the first through months. It was the MOMS club that brought us meals when we first came home from the hospital, helped with yard work when I was unable to leave the boys unattended, and have always been there for a listening ear, answers, or resources. We also belong to the local Twin Moms club, and members were there to provide meals and run errands during those first few weeks as well - there's nobody that understands what new twin parents face, like those that have been there before.
I strongly encourage you to join a local club. If there isn't one close to you, these organizations offer great support in starting clubs. Club members offer friendship and support, and the clubs offer a variety of activities for families. Clubs also offer a huge resource and advice for babysitters, pre-schools, summer camps, cleaning services, vacation rentals, hand-me-downs and yard sales - you name it, you'll find it at your local Mom's Club!
Parents aren't the only ones that benefit from these clubs. Babies, toddlers, and young children have fun and different activities and friends that they can see and play with regularly. We've seen clowns, visited a farm animal sanctuary, had picnics and blown bubbles in the park, and several other fun stuff with our mom's groups. The older kids go for longer day trips, visits to the pumpkin patch in the fall, get together for crafts, and a whole lot of other activities.
If you have a local mom's club or playgroup and would like to be included in our directory, please contact us with your information!
Moms Clubs
International MOMS Club
According to the site, the MOMS (Moms Offering Moms Support) club began when its founder, Mary James of California, decided she was tired of being alone at home. She wanted to meet other at-home mothers and she wanted to find other at-home children for her children to play with. When she discovered there were no other organizations that met during the day and allowed her to come with her baby and preschooler, she decided to start a brand new organization just for at-home mothers. There are now over 1,500 chapters with more than 75,000 members across the United States, with International chapters starting too!
The biggest plus for me about this group - besides the members, who are truly wonderful people - is that the MOMS group is designed especially for stay-at-home-moms. Meetings, activities, and play times are scheduled during the day, so evenings aren't spent away from the rest of the family. I also don't have to squeeze in an evening meeting between the boys' feeding time, our dinner time, baths or bedtime rituals. Another huge plus is that children of all ages are welcome to all meetings and activities. Members volunteer to be child-sitters during general meetings. And, finally, it doesn't matter how old your children are, or how many children you have - the clubs are open to everyone.
Matching Moms
Another case of Mother's Coming Up with Great Inventions because of Necessity - or maybe it's desperation!
We were very fortunate that, while on a tour of the hospital, we met Kristen and Mark, who were expecting twins at the same time we were. In fact, our boys are 18 days older than the girls. This has been a wonderful blessing for me. Kristen and I made it through our last through months of pregnancy together, our first few weeks of twinhood and sleep-deprivation (our husbands even, inadvertently, took the Daddy Boot Camp Training Class together) and now continue our friendship with visits, compare notes, and a chance for the two sets of twins to "play" together - when we can find the time between feedings, diaper changes, baths, and bottles! It's been great to have a mother (and family!) going through the same thing we are - at the same time.
Matching Moms was created to help Moms find these kinds of friendships. The website matches moms to other mothers of young children who live nearby who share similar interests for support, friendship, and play groups. In order to become "Mom Matched" you must be a member of the site. Membership is free, and private information is kept just that - private. The website does offer playgroup directory, so you can find a playgroup near you, without becoming a member of the Matching Moms.
Moms In Touch International
Moms In Touch International was established to encourage mothers and others to meet and to pray regularly for children and schools from Kindergarten through college. They have groups for home schoolers, preschool moms, working moms, special needs children, "prodigals", grandmothers, teachers, and moms with young adult children not in currently enrolled in school. Groups meet once a week for an hour of time.
National Organization of Moms of Twins Clubs
NOMOTC isn't just for Moms or twins! The whole family is encouraged to participate. The group was founded in 1960 for the purpose of promoting all the special aspects of multiple birth children - twins, triplets and quadruplets. There are currently over 475 local clubs representing over 23,000 individual parents of multiples.
Other Twin Clubs and Twin Resources
There are many organizations and clubs that are specifically twin clubs, triplet clubs, and parents of multiples clubs - well, you get the idea. If you do have multiples, we strongly encourage you to find a club, or start one of your own. There is encouragement and situations that only another twin parent can truly understand.
Some great directories to find a multiples club near you are:
http://www.twinsmagazine.com/clubs.html
This directory is hosted by Twins Magazine, and is a pretty extensive list of multiple clubs across the United States and internationally. Twins Magazine has tons of information relating to all sorts of different twin and multiple questions and situations, from pregnancy to school age.
The information on this website is designed for educational purposes only. The information is NOT intended to be a substitute for medical care. Please consult a doctor with any questions or concerns you might have.