A support system, constant companion through thick and thin and lots of fun; it’s The Mommy Club! The Mommy Club is a hub for mommies to vent, ask for advice, give advice and support each other! We talk to the founders of The Mommy Club, Heba Abou El Eid and Haidy Wafik about everything from how it started to their future plans and everything in between!
How it started
What is now a Facebook group with over 19K members started as a Whatsapp group with a few moms, “I was pregnant and Haidy had just given birth. We made the group mainly for support; we wanted to feel like we’re not alone in what we are going through. I gathered all my friends who were pregnant or just had babies. We spoke everyday about pregnancy, how we were feeling and how to get ready for the baby”, Heba explains.
“The Mommy Club is a hub for mommies to vent, ask for advice, give advice and support each other!”
Before they knew it, a Whatsapp group just wasn’t enough, “we were very active on the group. People started adding their friends. We were all very close, we spoke every day. Some of the members wanted to extend the invitation to other people, but since it’s a Whatsapp group there’s a maximum limit of 100 people. That’s when they suggested we have a Facebook group; this is how the mommy club started”, Heba tells.
Benefits
The most obvious and very important benefit to joining The Mommy Club is the ongoing support and understanding, “it’s a 24/7 service, if you have any question or want to vent there will always be someone to reply because moms don’t sleep”, Heba says. If you are worried about anything or if you have questions real moms reply with their experience and any advice they could give, “we are very flexible and we like to hear what other moms have to say, but no one is allowed to give medical advice”, Haidy explains.
Another benefit for the mommies is the benefit card that they offer, “we are a support group so part of that support is financial. We do that by offering them discounts at over 60 stores, which are all family-related (Doctors, medical facilities, cupcakes, pharmacies and many more)”, Haidy tells us.
Parenting and the Internet
The Internet can be quite a cruel place. Heba and Haidy are well aware of that, “we try as much as we can to provide a safe, judgment-free environment. We are very selective with who gets accepted into the group”, Haidy Explains. Mothers share their pictures, personal stories and advice on this group,0 so they make sure that all members are real moms and that no fake profiles are included into the group.
There are many misconceptions when it comes to parenting that might get shared, “because we were raised without technology, our parents didn’t have the chance to research or get a support system like The Mommy Club, so they would rely on their moms and their grandmas. We have heard so many old wives tales”, they explain. It is groups like this that really change these misconceptions.
“The most obvious and very important benefit to joining The Mommy Club is the ongoing support and understanding!”
It all comes down to getting the support you need, “this is where The Mommy Club comes in, no matter how much support you think you are getting from your family or friends, they don’t really feel what you are going through. You get to learn from the experience of moms who are going through the same thing at the same time”, Heba says, “an example is when I say I’m tired on The Mommy Club, so many moms reply I am tired too and I know how you feel, you’re a great mom you’re amazing”.
Future Plans
With their first anniversary coming up in May, The Mommy Club plan on launching their brand new website, “we want to go global, since there are a lot of groups that branched out of The Mommy Club. There is The Mommy Club, Qatar, Paris and London. We decided to make the website, which is the first Social Media platform in the Middle East for moms”, Haidy says, “you have a profile, you can upload pictures, follow your friends. There will be group discussions, a blog section written by real moms. There will also be different sections, professionals and doctors”. After the launch of the website there will be an app to make it even easier! This isn’t only for moms, dads are also welcome, “with the launch of the website we want to start including single dads, it’s all part of helping with parenting”, Heba says.
The Mommy Club plan on focusing on creating fun events for their members, a day out with the kids, where those moms get to meet on a personal level, “we already know many of the moms on a personal level and they also know us and our kids and we want to keep it this way even when we grow. This is the edge of our group and what makes us special”, Heba says.
