MOMS Club of Norfolk, Plainville, & Wrentham

New Member Packet

Welcome to the MOMS Club of Norfolk, Plainville, & Wrentham. We are thrilled to have you join us! Our group is full of fun, creative, talented, and nurturing moms, and we look forward to getting to know you. There are so many ways to participate in the MOMS Club, whether it be joining in the activities or volunteering your talents.

In this new member packet, we have tried to supply information that will be helpful to you, both in learning more about our club, and how you can get the most out of your membership, as well as general guidelines for all members.

The MOMS (Moms Offering Moms Support) Club is a support group for mothers who have chosen to stay at home to raise their children. We include mothers of all ages, as well as those who work out of their homes or part-time.

The MOMS Club was founded by Mary B. James in Simi Valley, California in 1983, and is now an international network of over 1,500 clubs. Local groups from across the country and even throughout the world share their ideas through our International Newsletter. In areas where there are several groups, local MOMS Clubs get together to network and plan joint activities. We seek to improve the status of at-home mothers everywhere.

The MOMS Club of Plainville Area was founded by a Plainville mom in July 2001, after deciding to stay at home with her young son and relocating to Plainville from Foxboro. Formerly a member of The MOMS Club of Foxboro, this stay-at-home mom was assisted by the Foxboro chapter by sistering a chapter closer to home. Like many moms, she found herself alone during the day and craved the companionship of other moms in the same situation. Our club now has members from the King Phillip School District of Plainville, Norfolk and Wrentham.

Our club has a lot to offer our members. Each month, we have weekly playgroups, a craft day, field trips, a family event, couples night out and MOMS Night Out (no kids or husbands!), as well as our monthly business meeting/open playgroup. We also conduct at least one service project each year that benefits children and their families in the community. The club’s first service project was a toy donation to Norwood Hospital’s ER children’s waiting room. Donations from club members have been given to many area charities, such as Cradles to Crayons. Dues are $25 per year and non-refundable, but if a hardship arises, accommodations may be made. No mother is turned away because of an inability to pay dues. We try to do fun things at little or no cost — we know how families tend to be on budgets!

For more information about the International MOMS Club, visit their website at http://www.momsclub.org

The following guidelines have been established to allow our members and their children to socialize, play and grow in a healthy and safe environment, and are in addition to our Chapter's Bylaws. If you have any questions about these guidelines, please talk to one of the MOMS Club officers.

A business meeting/open playgroup is scheduled each month. All members and their children are encouraged to attend. At this meeting we will discuss future service projects, vote on a variety of issues, have an occasional visiting speaker on relevant topics such as pre-school enrollment, nutrition for toddlers, or early intervention. This is also your opportunity to voice your opinion, bring up any issue of concern or interest. This is an open playgroup for children of all ages. It’s an excellent opportunity to get to know one another. The smaller playgroups within the Club are age-appropriate and can meet anywhere the playgroup feels comfortable, for example at each other’s homes or a park (and preferably not scheduled at the same time as the business meeting).

Healthy members are important to all of us, so please do not attend any MOMS Club activity if within the past 24 hours you or your child has had a fever, cough (that is not allergy, asthma or teething related), green or yellow mucus from the nose, vomiting, diarrhea, any contagious illness, any infections for which you started antibiotics within 24 hours or less or any rash unless diagnosed by a doctor as benign. The officers of the MOMS Club reserve the right to ask a mother with a sick child to leave a meeting or an activity group.

Unfortunately, children do not always get along with each other. If your child is hitting, pushing, biting, damaging property and/or putting him or herself or any other child in harm’s way, please make every effort to control and correct this behavior immediately. The officers and activity group hostesses reserve the right to ask a mother and child to leave if the child has assaulted other children or damaged property more than twice during the activity; if extreme, it need only happen one time. If a child is asked to leave an activity, due to said behavior, the parent must supervise the child at all times at subsequent activities, until said behavior has ceased. If your child damages or breaks something, valuable or not, it is your responsibility to offer to repair or replace it.

All MOMS Club members must have a signed Liability Release Form on file to participate in activities. If you are bringing children other than your own, the club also needs to have a liability release and medical waiver signed by the child's parents on file. Any guest child will also be expected to abide by all Chapter Guidelines and will be the sole responsibility of the adult bringing the child.