My parents raised seven children. I am the third child. I have two older sisters and four younger brothers. Yes, my mom had five energetic boys in a row to manage on a daily basis. She was a Saint for Sure! There is about an eighteen-year spread from the oldest to the youngest. To say the least, my mom’s day was busy and typically nonstop and chaotic! Around dinner, when our dad would come home from work, she would wind down a bit before putting the younger ones to bed. After dinner, my mom and dad would sit in the living room conversing about each other’s day.
Back in the times when our mom was raising us, going to the grocery store, to a clothing store, or running just about any errand, she had most, if not all, of her children with her. I remember a particular store we would go to often. It had everything from clothing to food. My favorite aisle was the toy aisle, of course! When we would arrive, our mom would tell us that if you get lost, go to the front and find a checker and announce that you were looking for your mom. On one such trip to this store, I was in the toy aisle and my mom repeatedly asked me to come along. I was so enamored with some toy I was not listening. When I looked up, she was gone with all my siblings. I searched the store first to find her but did not. I went to the checker and they made the pre-planned announcement as my face blushed with embarrassment. My mom did not come right away. The female checker asked “Are you sure your mom is still here? I said, “I don’t know.” Then about ten minutes later, after finishing her shopping, our mom and my siblings showed up with her large cart overflowing with all sorts of items, mostly for the kids. She said very nicely, “Tom, next time when I say come along, come along.” Believe me, I learned my lesson! Oh, and by the way I was not the only sibling that got lost and had to go to the checker!
You see, back then there were no conveniences like today. Our mom was basically on her own and would only occasionally call another mom to see what they thought of something. There was no quick and easy way to browse the internet or go to sites for families to find Kid Friendly Venues. There was no way to determine in advance of seeing, the quality of an item, sale items, kid friendly eating establishments, a good tutor, a good kid dentist, a sports program, etc. The yellow pages, your phone on the wall and word of mouth was all she had. By the time our mom was thirty one years old she had five children and I would say many of her days were chaotic. There was no convenient way to search and find Kid Friendly Venues (KFV). Moms back then were resilient and resourceful and they still are today. Can Momstribute.com help? Yes we can!
What we hope to do is build a shared Mom Community, to bring some more convenience and remove some of the daily chaos. Stay tuned in the coming months as we will launch a new app. Yet until then, hope you enjoy our blogs.