Power of Moms is here to help you become the person and mother you really want to be.
You take care of other people every single day, but who is taking care of you?
(That’s where we come in!)
Who directs the site?
I (April Perry) launched Power of Moms in 2007 and then co-directed Power of Moms with Saren Loosli from 2008 to 2017. In January of 2018, we expanded our community, and Saren launched Power of Families to more fully serve moms, dads, and kids. (You can find her amazing site and lots of great programs by clicking here!)
I now direct the activities and support here at Power of Moms with our amazing team of moms (a couple of photos are below with present and past team members).
More About Our Team of Volunteer Moms
How Power of Moms is making a difference in the lives of mothers.
My background is in organization and planning (I bought her first planner when I was just 13). Upon becoming a mom, I struggled to find a mom-friendly way to accomplish things and keep my brain and home organized. I also craved more inspiration and guidance in my life as a mom. Starting Power of Moms was a way to build an incredible support network while also reaching out to help other moms.
Visit April’s LearnDoBecome website or Read April’s Story
What does “Deliberate Motherhood” mean?
In our opinion, “deliberate motherhood” means you really think about what you do as a mom. You really care about your family and want the best for them. Plus you want to learn and grow and develop yourself as a person through the experience of motherhood. You live life purposefully. You embrace what you uniquely bring to your family.
What makes Power of Moms different from other websites for mothers?
Our focus is on strengthening mothers as women and as people who have chosen to make motherhood a primary focus in their lives. Unlike most motherhood-related sites, we don’t talk about cooking, shopping, fashion, cleaning, decorating, or potty-training. Instead of focusing on how to look, what to buy and how to react to the problems that pop up in our lives as mothers, our website focuses on pro-active ideas that will help us BECOME who we really want to be as mothers and as women.
We link as much of our content as possible to suggested ACTION. There are plenty of places on the Internet to get ideas and read wonderful articles. But our site couples ideas with concrete suggestions and challenges. Everything we offer has a “do” component. You’ll see that each post includes a challenge at the end – something you can DO in response to whatever rang true to you in that essay. Each post also includes a question to help you share further points that might strengthen what the article has to offer other mothers. Plus each of our programs offers scads of concrete ideas and step-by-step instructions that can lead to life-changing actions and paradigm shifts.
Everything we teach on this website reflects our personal values and beliefs, but because we want all mothers to feel comfortable on this site (even if they are not exactly like us), we use a principle-based approach that focuses on asking the right questions and letting mothers figure out the right answers for their unique family circumstances.
What are the basic beliefs that fuel Power of Moms?
We believe that motherhood is a valuable and valiant pursuit and that mothers need and deserve more support, appreciation and opportunities to learn from each other. We believe that mothers are precious and indispensable—we bring children into the world and strengthen societies by loving and nurturing our little ones. We are heroes to our children as we create homes of safety, warmth, and love—while throwing in some stern talks and tickle fights.
We, at Power of Moms, extend our appreciation to those mothers who are doing the best they can to build strong families. We also acknowledge that behind our noble efforts are many complex challenges and hidden feelings of depression, guilt, or frustration. We believe it’s important for mothers to feel connected to other mothers and to have opportunities to share what they know so that – bit by bit – they can become who they really want to be.
In the midst of all of the sacrifices that we make to care for our families, we sometimes forget that mothers are people, too. We believe that even in the midst of mounds of laundry and children’s interruptions, moms can and should find time and resources to nurture themselves, to expand their interests and talents, to become the woman they need to be while becoming the mom they need to be.
Would I fit in? What sorts of mothers are involved in Power of Moms?
Our audience is deliberate mothers. We attract women who are serious about mothering and who want to grow their own abilities and talents through and during the experience of motherhood. We’ve got a very diverse audience of mothers. We’ve got moms from 134 different countries including moms who work outside their homes and stay-at-home moms, moms with plenty of money and moms just barely scraping by, moms with several degrees from fancy universities and moms with valuable degrees from various schools of life experiences, moms with babies and toddlers through moms with teenagers and adult children.
What was the inspiration for starting Power of Moms?
Becoming a mother was so exciting for me, but I initially went through the same challenges that many moms experience. I had just graduated from college and had been working plus was heavily involved in student government. I was used to juggling lots of projects, working with new people, and feeling a sense of accomplishment at the end of each day. I absolutely loved having the opportunity to stay home with my daughter, and I knew my work with her was valuable, but I had the bandwidth to do more, and I wanted to spend my free time on meaningful projects that would help me pursue my life’s mission.
I spent several years reading every book I could find about motherhood, interviewing moms I admired, looking into a variety of educational opportunities, praying a lot, and talking to my husband about the kinds of things I wanted to do.
As I went through that process, I had two more children, and I developed a deep love for motherhood. Caring for my family was still hard, but as I became more experienced, I could see the meaning of my work (and the fruits of my labors), and I felt so much joy and purpose as I cared for the people I love most.
Once my husband finished business school and we bought our first house in 2004, I felt ready to start “doing something” with all the knowledge and experiences I’d had. Originally, I spent every Wednesday night writing essays about motherhood–essentially I was “blogging” to myself.
My husband could see how passionate I was about motherhood and how I wanted to help other mothers find joy and purpose in their lives while experiencing the nobility of their roles, and he encouraged me to start a website, write books, write for a newspaper column, speak at conferences, etc. He even drew a diagram on a little piece of paper showing me how all those activities could work in harmony (I still have it), but his ideas seemed too “big.”
I was really good at thinking small and considering myself to be “just a mom,” but my husband kept supporting, challenging, and inspiring me to do more. To be perfectly honest, I was afraid to step outside my comfort zone, but as more and more ideas about a website started coming to me, it got to the point that it was more painful not to start Power of Moms than it was to sit down and actually do it.
My initial Power of Moms website had only been live for a few months (with a mailing list of about 150 of my friends) when Saren and I connected, and now it’s grown beyond my wildest expectations.
Last month, I found that diagram my husband drew seven years ago, and I started laughing. I said, “Honey, I’m now running a large website, writing a book, writing for a newspaper column, and speaking at conferences. How did this happen?” He just smiled.
It’s taken thousands of hours to get to this point, and the whole family has pitched in and sacrificed to make this possible, but I have never felt happier. I get to put motherhood at the top of my priority list while also working with great women, accomplishing exciting projects, and hopefully making a difference in the world.
What is the significance of the daisy on the Power of Moms logo?
Is a daisy a very “powerful” symbol? Well, we did have that whole “flower power” thing going on in the 60’s…
Daisies are tough flowers. They don’t wimp out easily and they out-last just about any other flower in the vase. They don’t attract the most attention out of all the flowers at the stand, but they are consistently beautiful, bright, and happy. The daisy (named in the 17th century by Carolis Linnaeus) represents purity and innocence. Moms are the bearers of and leaders of the pure and the innocent.
American colonists treated cuts and bruises with a daisy lotion, and American books from the late 30s still refer to the daisy’s medical power for hearts. Daisies are described as durable, adaptable, and as a symbol for excellence. Mothers, like daisies, heal cuts, bruises, and hearts. They are tough, adaptable, and committed to excellence in all areas of their lives.
We love daisies
How can I get involved?
You can get involved by doing any or all of the following:
- Read, enjoy and comment on all the great articles and podcasts we offer.
- If you like to write, you can become one of our authors (link in the footer).
- Join our FREE email list (see that “Sign up” in the upper right corner?). This way, we can update you on new articles, events and opportunities. You can also join our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram (just search Power of Moms).