Volunteer, Caring Mums

The Role of the Caring Mum Volunteer   Your principal task is to provide emotional support to a new mother – not necessarily a first-time mother. Sometimes her main concern will be how to take care of her baby, but she may also want to talk about changes in her relationship with her partner or adapting to the new role of “mother.”  Your main tool to support her with her concerns is a listening ear.  Some of the roles you can expect to assume in your relationship with your mum are:   Supporter: Someone to encourage the choices the new mother makes regarding her parenting.  Resource: Someone to help the mum connect with appropriate community services.  Listener: Someone who can sit with the mum’s true feelings without judgment.  Witness:  Someone to bear witness to the challenges and successes of early parenting and to feedback positives to the mother.  Sounding Board: Someone to bounce ideas off and with whom to problem solve.  Companion: Someone to keep a new mum company and to support her in getting out of the house.  Role Model:  Someone who has successfully managed the reality of motherhood, in both good times and bad.   Normaliser:  Someone who can give a new mum a broader perspective.    Observer:  Someone to say out loud the positive parenting skills observed.  Validator: Someone who can assist the mum in accepting her feelings.