Mentor's Moments

Motherhood as a Profession

 As the Mentor Mom, I truly regret I didn’t have MOPS when my children were Preschoolers. (Now they are now 37, 36, 34, 31, and 28 years old, so I am living proof that you will outlive the toddler years.) When we adopted a two-year old, when we had an almost-three-year-old, and our oldest son was born about ten weeks later. I feel your pain!

In my life after toddlers, I’ve worked in the Pro-Life Movement. I founded a Center to help women facing an unplanned pregnancy and I operated that Center out of my home. I became president of our state right to life organization, West Virginians for Life, and the Center eventually shifted to another location outside my home because I served as president of WV for Life for fifteen years and traveled a great deal.

Kids are Unique.

Before children, I worked as a social worker. I’ve managed my husband’s office. I’ve served on a county board of education, and I’ve had many volunteer jobs, but I promise you no job demands more of you than parenting. You will mature emotionally and spiritually or you will not thrive—nor will your children. No other job has a 24-hour on call schedule. No other job is irreplaceable—no substitutes for mom. Even the best babysitters and grandparents will never be your children’s mother.

We believe mothering matters, and that is why we exist: to help you be the best mother you can be. You will not be me, or your discussion group leader, or your MOPS friends. As a unique creature, you bring your own special nature to the job. I have good news for you: you were chosen to mother those particular children that you were given. That means you are uniquely qualified. No teacher will know them better. You are the specialist on your kids: their nurturer, encourager, helper, and overseer.

They also are unique. You can’t make them be anyone else. The bad news is: you will never find one magic technique that works for all your children. What works for one personality doesn’t even influence another one. You will have to be creative, learning each child’s temperament, personality, and strengths. Mothering requires more than any other job because you must adapt to all the different personalities in your family, loving and strengthening every family member (including dad) the way they are made, and help them maximize their potential. WOW! Don’t even try to do mothering alone.

We cannot tell you what to do or how to do it, but we can identify with you in your struggles. We can affirm you and laugh with you; we can sympathize and cry with you, and together we will have barrels of fun in the adventure of mothering preschoolers.

Charlotte Snead

Mentor Mom

September, 2005