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Calendar offers moms a bit of helpful advice

“Dear Mommy, I’m glad you understand that if you answer my cries quickly, I’ll learn to trust people. Look in my eyes and tell me you’re glad I’m your baby. I love you, Mommy. You’re my best teacher.”

Philomine Lund knows that if your baby could talk, she would say something like this. But since your new little bundle of joy can’t tell you what she needs or wants, Philomine and the Kiwanis Club of Moses Lake, Washington, have created something that might help you figure out those smiles, cries, and coos.

Proud new parents receive a Mommy and Me calendar before leaving the hospital.

The Moses Lake Kiwanis club submitted its information about the Mommy and Me calendar project to the “Kiwanis In Action.” Clubs are encouraged to use the In Action site to submit photos and information about service, fundraising, leadership, membership, and fellowship activities.

The Moses Lake Kiwanis club partnered with several businesses and sponsors to print calendars for new mothers. The 13-month “Mommy and Me” child-development calendars include many special features such as health and safety tips, breastfeeding advice, and a way to keep track of baby’s milestones.

“In today’s society, most of us don’t have extended family close by—we don’t have moms and sisters and aunts sharing their parenting knowledge,” Philomine says. “So that has changed, but society’s expectations of what a new mom should do haven’t. Moms are supposed to know automatically how to parent—and we don’t necessarily know.”

Philomine hopes the tips found in the Mommy and Me calendar will be helpful. And while the calendar’s name suggests it’s made exclusively for moms, there is a surprise for dads. Philomine’s husband, Ted Lund, also a Moses Lake Kiwanian, wrote ‘A Note to my Daddy’ for the calendar.

The Kiwanis club members’ efforts in providing the Mommy and Me calendars prove their dedication to the Young Children: Priority One campaign. The club provides a copy of the calendar to every new mother who delivers a baby at Samaritan Hospital in Moses Lake.

Making the calendar proved to be a fun exercise for Philomine and the rest of the Kiwanians.

“Little by little the ideas came: Write from a baby’s point of view so it doesn’t sound preachy; keep sentences short; and make it fun and colorful,” she says. “I didn’t want anything that talked down to moms.

“The entire time I worked on the calendar, and even to this day, I picture one young mom in particular,” she says. “She had so little in terms of resources, or role models, or even life skills, but she had two little boys I just loved. I pictured her reading the calendar and proudly passing along some information to other young moms. I guess I really should have dedicated the calendar to her because she was my inspiration.”