Mineral Moms cookie frosting event builds camaraderie

Circle of Parents is under the umbrella of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services serving the unique needs of the communities that they serve. The organizations provide a place for parents to come and share common experiences, successes, and challenges through a monthly group meeting co-led by parents and professionals. 

The groups serve mothers who are struggling with postpartum mental health, parents who have a child with a special health care need, parents in the foster care system. 

But after the annual cookie-frosting meeting last Thursday evening, those services should also include camaraderie among parents, exuberance for children, with laughter and enjoyment for everyone.

The design of Circle of Parents is to prevent child abuse and neglect and strengthen families through mutual self-help as a parent support group and for the last three and a half years Heather Pecora has been the facilitator of Mineral Moms Community-Circle of Parents. 

Pecora actually found out about the organization from the Mineral County Health Department and once she was screened and vetted, she went through training to become a facilitator and then started this chapter. 

“I do get a lot of help and support from the (Mineral County) Health Department, but it’s separate from PAT (Parents as Teachers) that they offer,” she explained. “These help moms make friends and to learn about local resources and to just kind of have fun and spend time together. I try to provide childcare for most of our meetings so that the moms can hang out and the kids can go play giving the moms a little bit of a break.” 

Her monthly meetings are free and held on different days and locations. Spa night was well received. She had a phenomenal book exchange meeting. Cupcakes in the Park last summer was a blast for moms and kids alike as the weather was perfect. Mineral Moms Community is on Facebook and is the best way to receive information as Pecora updates it for all meetings. She also has an Instagram page with the same handle.

Meeting attendance varies, which is just fine with Pecora. 

“Sometimes I just get one mom, and then I’ll have 30 moms and kids the next time. But when I only have one or two moms, then we get to talk and connect and kind of pour our heart and soul out to each other. But the ones with tons of moms are exciting with them talking and socializing and the kids are having fun playing.” 

There isn’t an age limit for the children with some as old as 11 or 12 participating but the 3 to 6-year-old range is most common with younger moms. 

“I have had grandparents come and they are always welcome. I love it when grandmothers come because they offer really amazing insight and some different wisdom than we have,” she laughed. “Usually, my meetings are just for moms. This is my only meeting of the year where we do cookie-frosting which is for the whole family.” 

They were having pizza before the cookie decorating in the back of River Side Soup & Sandz in Superior. Her meetings are held in Superior because it’s almost county-central and it’s easier for her with her two young children. Mason is 4 and Zoie is 2 so they are the unofficial ambassadors of the kiddos. 

There is a Circle of Parents Group that has just started in Alberton that is called Village Voices of Alberton and the facilitator is Natasha Knight. She and Pecora share and coordinate ideas as their mission is the same without competing for numbers of moms or boundary restrictions in the county. 

“Jessica Schaak at the Health Department made all of my cookies for tonight,” she said.  

Schaak has also gone to the Circle of Parents training so she is a facilitator to step in and help Pecora if her schedule becomes crowded. 

“I just love Jess,” Pecora smiles. “She’s amazingly helpful and so supportive which is a wonderful trait to have.” 

Other Montana early childhood and family support information is available at dphhs.mt.gov/ecfsd/index.

    Some children went all out with mountains of frosting, others like Tessa, worked slowly and diligently to make their snowflakes beautiful.  (Amy Quinlivan)