For parents looking for advice, adult conversation or just a moment to take a deep breath, the Bowie Parent Network’s coffee break social might be the perfect solution.
Tucked in an upstairs classroom of the St. Matthews United Methodist Church, members meet weekly to share their struggles or debate relevant Prince George’s County topics, knowing that what’s said there stays there.
“It’s the Vegas of Bowie,” said Dawn Wampler, a Bowie resident who joined the group about 10 years ago.
Babysitters are available in the room next door to give stressed-out parents a needed break.
Five to six members attend each week, although other network members participate in evening events or use other services. The group’s roster has 30 to 40 people, said president Patti Cable, a Bowie resident and an 11-year member. The network started in the 1950s as a Bowie mothers’ group. In recent years, however, members changed the organization’s name to reflect changing social dynamics.
“We really serve as a community network,” Wampler said.
The group, for instance, now includes a stay-at-home father, as well as participants from other areas of Prince George’s or Anne Arundel counties. Full-time working parents who just happen to be home during the day can drop by.
The group also attracts adult caregivers, as well as military personnel or other transplants to the area who want to make social connections.
“We use the word ‘parents’ broadly,” said Bowie resident Pam Malech, a member for about six years.
The group seeks to increase its membership in 2012 to build up its babysitting co-op and get back to sponsoring monthly social events for couples such as bowling or dinner at a restaurant.
The co-op also serves as a great way to trade off chores and other tasks, Cable said. Members volunteer at each other’s bake sales and other events at area schools. Mothers use the co-op the most, members say, but fathers could also use the service to get a ride back and forth to a mechanic when a car goes into the repair shop.
Membership declined a bit during the past two years after some of the core members experienced deaths or other issues in their extended families that left little time for membership recruitment. Social changes have had an impact as well. When Cable joined she said most members were stay-at-home mothers.
“Schools now offer pre-kindergarten and most women go back to work,” she said. Members also noted that families now have fewer children and might not require as much support.
Even so, the network can serve as a vital resource, Cable said. Members review each others’ resumes or share artistic talents such as crocheting, scrapbooking or basket weaving. And a morning devoted to looking at each other’s wedding photos gave participants a chance to reminisce about life before children. The group supported the church’s holiday service project by wrapping gifts for free before participating in a cookie swap.
Above all, members appreciate making friends and having a place to gain some perspective. Whether a parent wants the inside scoop on local schools or a teen’s strange behavior, a member has most likely already been there, done that.
“And because we’re not all in the same schools or same neighborhoods, you can discuss a problem with someone who’s not in the situation,” Malech said. “It’s a good place to hash things out.”
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