Some of you may have heard of a cool business called “Help A Reporter Out (HARO)”. For those of you not familiar with it, it’s like a cry for help from reporters who are looking to write stories and are in need of content – quickly. As a subscriber, you review the list of current requests and if you have content that would prove helpful to them, you respond. You may even get quoted or be featured on TV. Brilliant idea!
I’d like to piggy-back on this idea and suggest that someone start a “Help a Mom Out (HAMO)” service. It would work the same way as HARO. Moms would submit their requests and other people would respond with how they could help. For example: “Looking for someone to pick up my child from practice,” or “Single mom with the flu needs hot meal for her family.”
Ok, I realize that there would need to be background checks and a ton of surveillance on the site but the idea is a good one. The bottom line is that moms need help. They need peeps. They need A LOT of peeps. This single mom sure does.
My good friend and partner on Mom to Mompreneur Now, Suzen Pettit, has great peeps. Since I’ve known her, she has called upon her posse of helpful moms to help her with everything from waiting for a heating repairman to last minute sleepovers. When I am unable to do certain activities with her due to childcare challenges, she is likely to say to me, “Jen, you need more peeps.”
Most moms grow their “peep-dom” when their children are young. They go on play dates or join mom’s groups or maybe they just live in a great neighborhood where people are helpful or if they are really lucky, they live close to their extended family.
When my children were young, the peeps I met were at their daycare center, located in Westchester County, NY close to where I worked. I did not develop close relationships with these lovely moms mostly because of the geography. How could any of them ever help me out if they lived 30 plus miles away?
And since my kids went to daycare out of state, they did not develop friends in our school district. Suffice it to say, the first day of kindergarten was challenging since they knew no one.
This is not a ‘feel sorry for the “peep-less” Jennifer’ post. This is a rally to all new mothers. Get out and meet other mothers (and fathers!) when your children are young. Force yourself to talk to other people and get to know them. Get out of your comfort zone and join a Mommy and Me group. Build and cultivate relationships with neighbors. Trust me, you will be glad you did.
One of the reasons I started this blog and why I mentor moms, is so that they can benefit from my experience and hopefully take some of the suggestions I provide to heart. I want them to enjoy being a parent and not walk around so stressed and guilty all the time. I hope that those reading this post will take this recommendation to heart.
And for those of you reading this who are able to help a mom out – do it! Do it because it’s the right thing. Offer to carpool now and then. Bring over a hot meal when you know of a mom who’s sick. Give a stressed out single mother a gift certificate for a manicure. Not only will you be bringing a slice of peace and joy into that mom’s life but you will feel great too.
Go on – Help A Mom Out today!