MOPS

MOPS stands for Mothers of Preschoolers and I met over 40 such moms at my church this morning as we kicked off the MOPS program. It felt good to walk into a room with moms of kids similar in ages to my own and to feel immediately at home. We formed bonds as we dropped our kids into the nursery with varying degrees of success and shared about our families. It felt good to be amongst moms who desire as I do to raise our children to follow Christ. And of course it felt good to have a conversation without a child pulling you in another direction.

I have been worried ever since Anna first cried when we put her in the church nursery a month ago that I would not be able to participate in MOPS because she and Maddie wouldn't do well there. Today we pulled into the parking lot, Anna put on her backpack, and we walked toward the church nursery. Being the first day of MOPS it was rather chaotic as kids were passed over the counters to nursery workers - - some clinging to their moms for dear life. Once Anna realized what was about to happen, she started shouting 'No No No'. I loosened her grip on my shirt, pushed her over the counter to the nursery worker, and stepped out of sight. She screamed! I moved down the hallway to talk to a friend for a few minutes and then snuck my way back to her room to take a peak. Anna didn't appear to be crying anymore and she hadn't thrown herself on the floor so I felt ok to leave. After about an hour into the morning (the program is 2 hours) more and more kids started showing up in the meeting room - apparently they call you if your child cries for more than 15 minutes. The girls did great and my phone never rang, but it was nice to know that if they have an off day, they can come to the meeting and everyone understands.

I look forward to going back in two weeks and I'm so glad I signed up.