When Courtnye Lynch and her husband moved back to Dallas with a newborn over a decade ago, she felt desperate to connect with other moms.
Upon returning home, Lynch discovered that the people she had known in Dallas had moved away, and she needed to find other parents like her to spend time with.
“Being a new mom myself, it was a difficult time,” Lynch says. “It’s kind of isolating to have an infant and be at your house, especially for a first time mom.”
Lynch heard about MomCo — short for the Mom Community and formerly Mothers of Preschoolers, or MOPS — through word of mouth. From there, she was introduced to the MomCo chapter at Wilshire Baptist Church on Abrams Road near Lakewood. Eventually, she became one of the co-coordinators in the group and is able to help support the leaders on the steering team.
“What I was looking for is a group of women that kind of were intentional in their relationships with each other, intentional with their relationship with their child,” Lynch says. “The fact that it was a group of faith-filled women from all different denominations was important to me as well. I didn’t necessarily need to follow like one particular church. I just wanted women that were kind of traveling this motherhood journey on the same path.”
Getting flowers and a nice lunch on Mother’s Day is good, but moms of young children also describe wanting to connect with other parents for support and friendship. Thankfully, there’s a few groups in East Dallas, like Wilshire MomCo, for moms to join.
The purpose of MomCo, according to Lynch, is to bring out the best in moms and help them reach their potential as mothers, partners, friends and human beings.
“Having young kids kind of absorbs you, and if you’re not fed into yourself, you can’t really be the best person as a mom,” she says. “I think that is why MomCo was established, just to kind of help women foster that relationship that they need with themselves and with their community. It’s just hard. You can get lost in young motherhood. It’s really a difficult season in life, and it’s impossible to do alone. I think that’s why when you had kids years and years ago, you had a village. The saying, ‘It takes a village,’ really is true. And for many women, MomCo (formerly MOPS) is their village.”
Most of Wilshire MomCo’s members have preschool and kindergarten-aged children or are expecting their first child. They participate in meetings, social events and playdates with their children, Lynch says. The group also has come together before to support moms in need by coordinating a meal train, donating diapers or through prayer.
MomCo isn’t the only support network on this side of U.S. 75. Parents on Facebook can join the East Dallas Moms group where moms (and some dads) come together to seek recommendations and resources in a judgement-free space. However, members of this group must live in our neighborhood: east of U.S. 75, north of I-30 and on the southwestern side of the I-635 loop.
“We try really hard to vet those moms, just to make sure that they’re within our immediate community, where you really could grab a coffee with them easily, or run into them at the park,” says Erin Clark, the Facebook group’s administrator and parent of an older step-daughter, a preteen and two younger children.
Clark also described early motherhood as lonely. In addition to feeling joy at the birth of a new baby, moms can also feel tired and confused. That’s why spaces for moms to talk are necessary to have.
“It’s still really important to have a place you can go and ask questions with as little guilt and shame and judgment as possible, which is really what we try and do in our group,” Clark says. “Moms groups can be really catty. It’s wild. We pride ourselves in being really diverse and really supportive. We’ve had very, very, very few instances where we’ve had to really monitor or regulate or call out behavior that’s not acceptable.”
Lakewood Early Childhood PTA also offers fellowship for parents, mainly moms, through adult and family events as well as a group chat for members to get recommendations and share experiences. However, that organization — which has been around since 1952 — also focuses on fundraising for local schools in the J.L. Long Middle School and Woodrow Wilson High School feeder pattern, including Lakewood Elementary, Geneva Heights Elementary, Lipscomb Elementary and Mount Auburn STEAM Academy.
“It’s enriching the community, essentially,” says Jessica Edwards, incoming president and mother of two. “We have the events that you can go to, but it’s also just making sure that the futures of the kids that are in our community and organization have that path, and they have that support all the way through. So that’s really what it’s all about.”
Edwards joined the PTA — which she describes as more of a community organization — so she and her children could make connections in the community. She also got her children involved in sports teams through the PTA.
“My daughter, whenever she started kindergarten at Lakewood, ended up knowing a couple of girls in her class, and that gave her that extra level of comfort,” Edwards says. “For me, that was totally worth it.”
When Clark became East Dallas Moms’ admin two years ago, the group was mainly a place for moms to ask questions and get answers from others in the group. Nowadays, the members have been coming together for fellowship offline, Clark says. They’ve planned social events for moms and swap meets where members can trade baby and maternity gear. East Dallas Moms also has side groups for members based on shared hobbies and age of their children.
“We value all kinds of motherhood journeys and parenting journeys, and we want you to know that you’re not alone, and you have space,” Clark says. “I think it’s really important to know that there is community, and you might have to seek it out a little bit, but it’s there for you.”
Membership information
Wilshire MomCo
Costs at least $100 per semester, September through December or January through May. Childcare for young children is available at an additional cost: $160 in total for one child per semester, $180 for two children and $190 for three children.
Meetings are held at least once a month from 9 a.m. to noon on Friday mornings.
Sponsorships are available. Membership of Wilshire Baptist Church is not required. Registration online.
East Dallas Moms
Open to mothers who have children at any age under 18 or are pregnant.
Members must reside in the East Dallas area — i.e., east of U.S. 75, north of I-30 and on the southwestern side of the I-635 loop
Join the private Facebook group.
Lakewood Early Childhood PTA
Costs $45 annually to join and benefits the J.L. Long Middle School and Woodrow Wilson High School feeder pattern, including Lakewood Elementary, Geneva Heights Elementary, Lipscomb Elementary and Mount Auburn STEAM Academy.
Find the PTA on Instagram at instagram.com/lecpta
