"Mommy and Me" Parenting Calendar making a difference

Thanks to the dedication of a Moses Lake woman and the support of the Moses Lake Kiwanis Club an import parenting tool is now available to new moms at Samaritan Hospital.

When she was working at the Alternative High School (now the Columbia Basin Secondary School), Philomine Lund noticed the need for clear simple information for new mothers.

"I saw young girls who desperately wanted to be good moms, but all they had to go on was what they had grown up with or what they had seen around them, a lot of which was not good parenting," Lund said. "I begin to wonder if there wouldn't be a way to help them become the 'best mom in the world' by giving them ideas they could easily make use of and repeat to their friends. It was critical to me that the moms could maintain dignity and be proud of their parenting skills."

The project took on several forms over the years but none was sustainable over the long haul. When Lund left the school district job and had more time to devote to community service she, along with her husband Ted joined the Moses Lake Kiwanis Club.

"I was asked to join the Young Children Priority: One Committee, Lund said. "That brought the idea back to life." After speaking with a number of people in the community, the project took on the shape of a calendar. Little by little the ideas came — write from a baby's point of view so it doesn't sound preachy; keep sentences short (new moms don't have time to read a dissertation); make it fun and colorful (something attractive has more chance of being used and less chance of being lost); use pictures of baby animals rather than human babies — avoided ethnic decisions. Many people, both in the Kiwanis club and in our community, read it as it took on its final form and helped with wording and content.

"Kiwanis members were tremendously encouraging and helpful as the calendar began to take shape," Lund said.

The calendar is directed to moms. While there was some pressure to include dads, there are too many households where dads are not present, and Lund particularly wanted to emphasize the impact a mom has on her child.

"Even if there is a dad in the home, the mother-child bond is critical to healthy development," Lund said. Not wanting to leave dads out of the calendar altogether, "A Note to My Daddy" was included at the end of the calendar that was written by Ted Lund. Furthermore dads as well as moms can use the information in the main part of the calendar.

The calendar is being given to all new moms at Samaritan Hospital in an effort to emphasize the importance of mothering and let new Moms know they have the support of the community.

While the immediate goal is being met—distributing the calendars to new moms— the long-term goal is to make them available to other Kiwanis Clubs or groups who could then use them as a fund-raiser or service project. "Our goal is to dissemenate this information as widely as possible," Lund said.