Odds are that when you were growing up your mom knew all of your neighbours. Your street was full of kids you knew and your mom invited the neighbourhood over to run through the sprinkler while the other moms had coffee and chatted. If a neighbour had a new baby, you were probably sent over with a hot casserole and the new mother would have been warmly welcomed into the folds of the other families. Although some social conventions have (sadly) changed, what hasn’t is the need to connect with other local mothers. It has always been said it takes a village to raise a child. We say it takes a town. Who resides in the town we fondly call momstown? Well, it’s moms like you.

What began as a small mothers group run by one mom has flourished under tender loving care by local women to make momstown the supportive, organized ‘neighbourhood’ it is today. Founded in August 2007 by moms from Burlington, Ontario, momstown.ca has now found a niche within many communities by providing moms with consistent activities and daily encouragement. momstown uses the internet to connect but our goal is to get moms off the computer and out of the house!

Christi & Ann-Marie, the “mamas of momstown”, are active in the Halton region but provide assistance to all Canadian chapters. momstown’s focus is on neighbourhood connections and our local Community Managers will help each regional chapter grow and adapt with its own members, area and needs.

The girls below bring together your  neighbourhood and warmly welcome you to join in. Come live, laugh, learn and relax with us.

Welcome to momstown!

Christi Rasheed

Hi, y’all. Thanks for taking a moment to read a little something about me. I’m a stay at home mom of 3 precious children.  After my daughter was born I felt a tremendous need to connect with other moms in the area, especially since I had decided to formally trade in my lesson plan books and grading pens to tackle life’s best job~ motherhood.

I began a moms group in 2006 and found great support in sharing motherhood with others like myself. In 2007, we decided to take the group to the next level and thus was born momstown. Although my own family is in Texas, I feel blessed to be surrounded by such amazing women, who have become so much more than just other moms in my neighbourhood. I enjoy sharing life’s greatest challenges and greatest blessings as a mom in momstown, and I’m sure that you will feel that connection here, too. Welcome!

Ann-Marie Burton

Who knew becoming a mother would be such a transforming experience? Before having a child, I was focused on my career in the consumer packaged goods industry. But after having our first child, Lauren, in 2005, I became transfixed by her and suddenly work didn’t seem as significant. We were living in Toronto and I quickly met some local new moms who were critically important to me in that first year as a mother. When Lauren was about 9 months old we made a couple tricky decisions – first, I would stay home with our daughter and secondly, that we would have to leave our beloved city neighbourhood to afford a house we could grow into. We settled on suburban Burlington and arrived just weeks before Lauren turned one. I found the transition of moving, officially resigning, and being home alone with a child desperately lonely. But - cue the angelic horns - I meet Christi and was inspired! Hooray! With the help from other local moms, motherhood has been dandy ever since.

In November 2007, we welcomed Andrew into the family and I am so grateful to the moms in momstown for their guidance and wisdom as I made the transition to 'mom of 2'! Recently baby Megan (2010) has completed our family and added to the joy and chaos! 

I continue to feel very passionate that every mother should feel supported, encouraged and empowered in her choice to mother. momstown brings this vision to life and I’m thrilled to be a part of its continued development.

Photos courtesy of Rebecca Nash