Moms find support in area club
By NAOMI SMOOT / Journal Staff Writer
MARTINSBURG — It was a sunny spring afternoon, and Tracy Barrett was teaching her eldest daughter how to swing: prompting her to kick her legs out, then back, then out again.
It was one of the many small, but important, lessons that Barrett has been able to offer to her three children. Her middle daughter, Maggie, who is almost 3, has been learning how to use the potty recently, while her youngest child, Madelyn, is working on the many milestones that come with being 17 months old.
And Barrett, a stay-at-home mom, says she is lucky enough to have been able to take part in almost all of these developments.
Barrett said she decided to stay home and raise her children several years ago when she found out she was pregnant with Meagan, now 5. At the time, Barrett had just moved to the area from Culpeper, Va., with her husband, Artie. It wasn’t long after they moved and he started his new job that the couple found out they were expecting their first child. They agreed that she would stay home and take care of Meagan, especially since they were new to the area and didn’t know anyone who they could leave their new baby with during the day.
“The income was stable,” she said.
Still, staying at home alone had its downside. The days could get lonely.
“I didn’t know anybody. I hated it,” she said.
Most days she sat in the house by herself. It was a lonely routine until she found the Moms Offering Moms Support Club of Martinsburg, a group which has play dates, a recipe club and other social outlets for at-home mothers.
“We kind of do it all,” she said of the club, which has 46 members and includes mothers who range in age from their early 20s to their 40s. Mothers also include those who stay home, and others who work outside the home, both part-time and full-time, she said.
Barrett, now the club’s president, said she enjoys the support the group offers her and other moms like her. There are days when mothers are at home with their children, trying to get them to stop having a temper tantrum. It’s days like these when she said she’s glad she’s a part of the club and can pick up the phone, call another member and realize she’s not in it alone.
“You think, ‘why are my kids so bad?’ But you’re not the only one,” she said.
Staying at home provides daily challenges, as mothers attempt to deal with the tantrums and “other kid stuff.” And there are other stressers from outside her home as well. At times, she encounters people who think of stay-at-home moms in a negative light. Those people are usually men. She tries not to let them get to her though, especially since she knows her husband understands all the work she puts into raising their family.
“He understands I’m a working mom, even if I’m at home,” she said.
Barrett’s husband, who joined the family at the park one recent afternoon, agreed, and noted that having someone at home with the family is reassuring.
“It’s just nice to know they’re home with one of us, instead of a stranger,” he said, adding that he didn’t want to be the one to do it, however.
Barrett’s children are appreciative of her decision, too.
“We play a lot,” said Meagan, adding hide and seek is one of her favorite games to play with mom.
