Keeping Mothers Interested
Maggie Griffin
Tyler TX USA
From: LEAVEN, Vol. 38 No. 5, October-November 2002 p. 108.
Our Group has extra meetings
aimed at encouraging continued involvement in LLL. We don’t call
them "Interested Mothers Meetings" for several reasons. We
invite women who feel they aren’t interested in leadership, but
we believe that if they learned more, they might be potential Leader
Applicants. We also want to include interested mothers who may not be
prospective Leader Applicants, but could help the Group in other ways.
About twice a year we hold
a meeting just for women who want to learn more about LLL. Those meetings
show how we each get something out of LLL right from the start. We ask
the mothers an icebreaker question, "Why did you come to your second
LLL meeting?" The vast majority of mothers answer that it wasn’t
for breastfeeding help, but for mothering support. We want to show that
LLL offers parenting support as well as breastfeeding information. Leaders
agree with and provide an example in action of LLL’s breastfeeding
and parenting philosophy.
During the meeting, discussion
illustrates how mothers can choose to take on more responsibilities
as their involvement in LLL increases. A mother can become an LLL member;
take on a Group job; become an Applicant and Leader; work on the Area
Council; or work at the Divisional, Affiliate, or International level.
All along the way there are resources available to us: The Womanly Art
of Breastfeeding, New Beginnings, Leader’s Handbook, Breastfeeding
Answer Book, Leaven, and Area Leader Letters (ALLs).
We also discuss how mothers
can become more involved in the Group: Group jobs (Treasurer, Librarian,
Greeter), helping new mothers feel welcome, and sharing positive experiences.
We talk about touchy situations at meetings and how the mothers can
help us get through them with their thoughtful responses. This shows
our more experienced mothers how valuable they are and encourages those
mothers who have been to more than one series of meetings to continue
coming, and to give to the newer members.
We emphasize that this is
a continuum, and women can choose the level where they are comfortable.
Then we discuss how leadership is only one of many ways women can help
a Group thrive. Not all women need to be Leaders to stay involved. A
Group needs many returning, core mothers to support and keep the discussions
positive. A Leader’s participation at a Group meeting may not be
as open as the mother’s who is not a Leader because a mother may
appropriately share more personal experience. Healthy LLL Groups need
everyone, and the varied contributions are welcomed! We emphasize that
experienced mothers are essential to balancing the Leaders and new mothers
who attend a meeting.
Then we discuss the concepts.
We give a brief summary of what is required for leadership, how to know
if you fit the prerequisites, and what to expect during the application
period. We explain that all women are welcome at our meetings and are
a valuable part of our Group, whether they live these beliefs or not.
Their support and encouragement can help mothers breastfeed. Leadership
has specific requirements though, just as a paying job does.
We also mention that we accredit
Leaders to help all mothers. We don’t accredit a mother of twins
to only help other twin mothers nor an employed mother to only help
other employed mothers. We accredit women who have experienced the normal
course of breastfeeding.
Our Group holds these meetings
about twice a year. We show women how they can still contribute to LLL
without becoming a Leader, and we find some great Leader Applicants,
as well. They’re very useful meetings.
Interested Mothers Meetings
Lisa Cortez Barry
Gardena CA USA
To attract new Leader Applicants
and get to know new members, our Group has a park day every week. It
is purposely informal, but we talk and share our experiences. You can’t
recommend a member if you don’t know her, right? We also invite
members who have been to a few meetings to attend our Chapter Meetings.
We hold these every other month, and it gives mothers an idea of what
else is involved in leadership and LLL. We offer enrichment topics and
let members know about ways they can get more involved in LLL.
We also occasionally offer
an interested mothers meeting—Mothers Interested in La Leche League
Knowledge—MILLLK Meetings. This helps members get more information
on LLL (structure and purpose), and our philosophy is discussed in depth.
After the MILLLK Meetings,
we have a Leader Applicant Series, usually handled by several Leaders.
We go through the Breastfeeding Resource Guide and the Leader’s
Handbook (1998) checklist on pages 243-4. This has taken about nine
months in the past, and either the Leader Applicants complete it and
become Leaders or they decide that leadership is not for them. It has
really worked well for us because we get to know the Leader Applicants
well. The Leader Applicants also have an assortment of mentors to turn
to and experiences to learn from.
Editor’s note: Policies
and procedures may vary regarding Chapter Meetings. Please check with
your support person.
Lisa Cortez Barry has
been a La Leche League Leader for six years with the Greater Long Beach
Chapter and Greater Torrance Group and lives in Gardena, California,
USA with husband, Glenn, and their three children: Kyle, 8; Cheyenne,
6; and Leila, 2.
|
Material for this article
was originally posted to The Leader Connection (TLC), an email list
for Leaders. Maggie Heeger Griffin was an LLL Leader for 14 years and
has since retired. She has two children, Joseph, 20, and Elizabeth,
18. She led Groups in Texas, New York, Florida, and Alabama, USA and
is a former Leaven Contributing Editor, ACLA, and CLA for AL/MS/LA.
Brandel Falk is the Contributing Editor for "Helping Mothers."
Send ideas to Brandel at Pal-Yam 34, Tsameret Ha-Bira, Jerusalem, ISRAEL
or ImaBDF at inter.net.il (email).
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:31:27 UTC 2007.
