Last week Ryde District Mums was asked to speak on a Panel at an International Women’s Day event held by the City of Ryde. Talk about honoured! We jumped at the chance and we’re so glad we did as we left not only inspired but uplifted by the stories we heard and by the whole premise of the day: Be Bold for Change.
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What we spoke about was YOU, the members of Ryde District Mums and the ways you connect and support each other. We spoke about the different ways you have helped out group members in need, whether it be through Christmas charity drives, supporting a local mum trying to escape domestic violence or even just responding to late night posts of mums at their wits end.
Community
We spoke about how our Facebook group has helped to make our big community feel just a little bit smaller with help of park meets, movie nights, Easter egg hunts and other activities where we get to put names to faces! We also hope the website calendar of events has helped to connect mums with other mums and kids with other kids, whether it be at playgroup, dance class or local community events.
Business
We spoke about the hundreds of businesses our members run and how we connect with those businesses. We spoke about the power of a recommendation from a fellow mum and the way good business is rewarded by group members. Our mums love supporting local businesses and we have tried to play a role in connecting the two through business night, our website and social media channels.
Moderators
We also spoke about the role of our group Moderators Bianca Dowling and Tracey Lynch (and we can’t forget Juliet Rogers or Kate Sawtschuk!) in ensuring we provide a safe space for women to be heard and validated. We talked about how the moderators are available day and night to monitor the hundreds of daily posts and encourage adherence to the group guidelines, manage the anonymous post service and keep things running smoothly.
Ryde District Mums ‘The Business’
And finally we talked about how we, Jessica, Rebecca and Jacqui, manage Ryde District Mums ‘The Business’. We explained that we do it while juggling the children, the house and other jobs, we do it in between folding clothes, making dinner, drop offs and pick-ups, we do it while breastfeeding and with kids on our laps, running meetings at parks or holding telecons while driving the kids to ballet. We explained that our most productive work hours are 6am, 9pm and weekends. But most of all we emphasised that we LOVE the role that we have created for ourselves and that WORK is the one word we WOULDN’T use to describe it!!
So if you’re still wondering how Ryde District Mums fits into International Women’s Day – it is the support, the community, the networking and the connection that you have created by being a member of RDM that contributes to our businesses, our mothering and our sense of civic responsibility – and what a lovely thing that is.
