Mother-Daughter Meet-N-Greet

The moms of the group decided we should meet once each month with just the moms, along with once a month with the girls. We needed time to plan, brainstorm and decompress about whatever issues we might currently be dealing with. This was to be a support group for us all.

One of our kind mothers, Elizabeth, offered her basement as the first official "everyone" meeting site. We thought we'd try rotating homes to host the meetings (though admittedly, most of us didn't have space for 26 people in one room!). Elizabeth purchased journals for each of the girls to use for reflections before, during or after our meetings. It was our hope that they'd also use these as a way to ask us moms questions they weren't comfortable speaking aloud.

We met on a school night -- all the girls were giddy and the atmosphere was electric. Truthfully, we were all pretty excited! We snuggled in on couches, chairs, pillows and the floor. It was cozy and being that close in proximity was good for us to start our bonding process! I took some time to introduce the concept of a mother-daughter group and solicited feedback from everyone about their hopes and dreams for this group. We had many. The girls also had many questions about respect and trust and confidentiality, so we took time to create a compilation of our promises. We all knew there would be some big conversations ahead, and it was imperative we had each other's backs.

1) Keep our promises to each other.
2) Be honest and trustworthy.
3) Make people feel like they belong.
4) What happens here, stays here!
5) Be aware of each other's needs.
6) Respect each other's ideas.
7) Share with each other.
8) Be on time.
9) Work hard and play hard.
10) Have fun together!

After agreeing with these guidleines, we broke into small groups to create a name for ourselves. Something catchy and easy to remember. Something that would be kind of a code; the girls were very aware that not all of their friends were a part of this group, and didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings if they mentioned it at school. Some names thrown into the debate were:

MDP (Mother Daughter Project)
Ladies + Girls
The Chicks and the Chickens/Hens
Wacky Women
Sharing Caring
The Amazing Girls Group (TAGG)
GG (Girls Group)

The winner was TAGG (The Amazing Girls Group)! We also voted on ways to get the group's attention back after small group time or games. It was decided that one leader would call, "Tag -- you're it!" and all would go into the standing or seated lotus yoga pose and say "Oooomm." Perfect! Naturally we had to practice a little bit. (o:

We ended with time to decorate our new journals with all sorts of fun crafty materials, eat a snack and be a little silly. They had some energy to burn. But it was just a perfect way to start!