The MOMS Club® of Southwest Lehigh Valley activities are meant to be a safe and welcoming environment for chapter members and their families. These guidelines exist to ensure a safe and respectful environment for all members, at all times.
The MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley activities are meant to be enjoyable and safe events for both Moms and children. The purpose of this code is to establish guidelines for all MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley functions or interactions with other members and their children. This includes interactions that may occur at chapter sponsored events and on social media pages. This Code of Conduct will also help avoid any confusion about what is expected of all club members. If you have any questions about these guidelines, please feel free to contact a board member. This code allows for removal of a member from the roster if they violate the guidelines established and set forth herein. The final decision will rest with the Executive Board.
Illness Policy
If any member or child has signs of an illness that can be passed on to others, please do not attend a MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley activity. For the safety and health of fellow members and their children, please stay home until everyone is past the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) contagious stage for that particular illness, or cleared by a medical professional. If you do attend an event and anyone is uncomfortable with you or your child's symptoms, you will be asked to leave.
If you or your children have any of the following symptoms, please refrain from attending any MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley function:
Fever of 100.4 or higher (must be fever-free for 24 hours without medication)
Rash in the last 24 hours that has not been cleared by the doctor
Runny nose that is not allergy or teething related (such as green or yellow discharge)
Sore throat
Diarrhea or vomiting in the last 24 hours
Extreme lethargy
Communicable disease (Covid 19, Ringworm, Chickenpox, Measles, Mumps, Head Lice, Whooping Cough, Scarlet Fever, Croup, etc.)
Any illness potentially dangerous to pregnant women
Behavior Policy
Children's Behavior Policy
We respect differing parenting styles but expect appropriate behavior from children at MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley activities. Unacceptable behaviors include, but are not limited to:
Biting
Destroying property
Hair pulling
Hitting
Hitting with objects
Inappropriate touch
Kicking
Overly aggressive behavior
Over-the-top tantrums
Scratching
Spitting
In the unfortunate event that these behaviors occur during MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley activities, the child's mother should remove the child from the area for an appropriate amount of time . When disciplining your child, please refrain from yelling so as not to further disrupt others in the group. If the child attempts the behavior a second time, at the same activity, the mother must remove the child from the MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley activity for that day . If such behavior occurs repeatedly at subsequent activities, the mother will receive a written warning and be put on notice that such behavior is unacceptable. After the warning, if the unacceptable behavior is still occurring, the member will not be permitted to participate in activities for 15 days. If a child is deemed a danger to themselves or other children on a continuous basis, the mother may be asked to leave the club. This policy is in place to ensure the enjoyment and safety of club members and their children.
Moms Behavior Policy
MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley is here to support all mothers and caregivers and recognize that there are many different parenting styles and personalities in our Club. The purpose of this policy is to establish guidelines for members at all MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley functions or on any MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley social media (Facebook, GroupMe, and Instagram) pages when interacting with other members.
To ensure a safe, supportive atmosphere, we ask the following of all members:
You shall not use obscene or abusive verbal language directed toward any member of the club or their child(ren).
You shall not use physical or obscene gestures toward any member of the club or their child(ren).
We are here to help each other! We are here to be supportive, and there shall be no malicious talk, demeaning, derogatory, or hateful comments, and/or harassment regarding other members allowed. This applies whether you are talking in-person, via phone, email, on any of our Facebook or GroupMe group pages (including event and activity group pages) or any other social media.
Disagreements among members should be resolved on an individual basis. If a disagreement cannot be resolved on an individual basis, it will be brought to the Executive Board for final resolution.
Do not discipline another mom's child(ren) without their permission. In the event that your child is in conflict with another child, please separate them and take the other child to his/her mother.
It is the responsibility of the mother to notify the group of any allergies of either herself or her children and it is the mother's responsibility to keep her child away from the foods that may cause harm.
Nanny participation in club events in the mother’s absence will be considered by the Executive Board on a case by case basis.
Only members in good standing may attend a playgroup hosted at a home, field trips, MOMS Night In/Out, Book Club, or other special events.
All members are required to pay their annual dues by the last day of the anniversary month of their joining date. If there is a financial difficulty, the member should contact a member of the Executive board before the dues are owed and an alternative payment arrangement can be made.
Members are prohibited from selling goods (LuLaRoe, Usborne, etc.) or soliciting at any MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley event. This includes distribution of personal business cards. Advertising may be donated via donation to a club event or on the MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley private Facebook group in the designated album (MOMS Club Member Advertising Page).
Smoking is not allowed at any MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley event.
All members are prohibited from participating in any illegal activity. Participation in an illegal activity is grounds for membership revocation by the Executive Board.
You shall be considerate and respectful to the privacy and property of other members.
You shall not misuse the MOMS Club of Lehigh Valley roster or its contents nor shall you send club-wide emails not pertaining to MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley business without the approval from the Executive Board.
You are responsible for following the guidelines as stated by the International MOMS Club By-Laws, which can be found on the International MOMS Club Website.
Social Media Policy
Participation on our group social media (Facebook, GroupMe, and Instagram) is a privilege. This privilege can be revoked by the Executive Board for violation of the Code of Conduct or social media group's rules.
Members of MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley are automatically invited to join all of our official social media pages. You must follow the group's rules from admins which include: being kind and courteous, no use of hate speech or bullying, no promotions or spam, and respect everyone's privacy.
Conversations of sensitive or private nature may occur on our social media pages. To protect the privacy of our members and their families, you must not take screen shots of any content on these pages and share outside of our chapter.
You shall not share photos of another member's child(ren) which originate on our social media pages, without first obtaining permission from the child(ren)'s parent/grandparent/caregiver.
Please do not post grievances on any of our chapter's social media pages, as this is not supportive. All members are welcome to file complaints by messaging or emailing the Executive Board directly.
Members have the right to maintain personal social media accounts. They may post on their accounts as they please, as that is their own personal page. If you find something offensive that is posted on the personal page of another member, you have the right to block or unfollow that member. The Executive Board will not ask members to remove posts from their personal social media pages.
The purpose of this group is to support and help each other. Members will not speak negatively of club events or of the member(s) hosting the events. Members should not discourage other members from attending club events.
The Executive Board will impose the following penalties if a member violates any of these guidelines:
First Offense – A verbal warning with one month probation from the date of the verbal warning.
Second Offense – A written warning with removal from good standing for three months from the date of the written warning.
Third Offense – The Executive Board may revoke a MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley membership and forfeit the member's dues.
The Executive Board reserves the right to remove a member from any playgroup, activity, or the chapter entirely, if children or the other members are in danger. The Executive Board may move to immediate removal, and bypass the “3 strikes” penalties, from the chapter should a member exhibit behavior or comments extreme in nature either in person or on social media.
Definitions
Abusive is generally defined as any action that intentionally harms or injures another person.
Conflict is a deeper disagreement involving layers of emotions, some of which may go unrecognized by the people involved. One of the first signs of conflict is the feeling of being angry with the other party. There is no negotiation in conflict. Resolution is out the door. Rude, hurtful and meaningless comments are spoken because emotion rules.
Demeaning Comments are comments that are unflattering, unkind, or insulting. Demeaning comments are meant to hurt and make people have less respect for the person who it is directed to.
Disagreement is an argument or a situation in which two or more people do not have the same opinion. Disagreements are normally short-term problems with fixable solutions. Disagreements by themselves are not problem-causing—the parties are stating their position about something with the goal to resolve the difference. For the purpose of the MOMS Club of SW Lehigh Valley Code of Conduct, a disagreement is defined as including malicious gossip, demeaning, derogatory, or hateful comments, and/or harassment.
Dispute is a conflict that has escalated. Parties may recruit others into the dispute, or they may completely ignore each other. All of the negativity fuels the underlying conflict and aggressive behavior may enter into the situation. Each party's goal is to get the other party to submit.
Good Standing means that a member has paid their dues (or has asked for and been approved by the Executive board for a waived fee) and has submitted their membership application for the year. A member in good standing is not in violation of any guidelines.
Grievances are real or imagined wrong, or other cause for complaint or protest, criticisms, insults, outrage, or resentment.
Harassment is generally defined as a course of conduct which annoys, threatens, intimidates, alarms, or puts a person in fear of their safety. Harassment is unwanted, unwelcome and uninvited behavior that demeans, humiliates, embarrasses, threatens or offends the victim and results in a hostile environment for the victim. Harassing behavior may include, but is not limited to, epithets, derogatory comments or slurs and lewd propositions, assault, impeding or blocking movement, offensive touching or any physical interference with normal work or movement, and visual insults, such as derogatory posters or cartoons.
Malicious Talk is casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true. Malicious means that the purpose of the conversation is meant to hurt more than help. It is spiteful in nature. Synonyms include slandering, defamation, mudslinging, backbiting, finger pointing, character assassination, smearing, misrepresentation, belittlement, false accusation, gossiping, and more.
Obscene is generally defined as conduct which is offensive to recognized standards of decency. Synonyms include indecent, depraved, disgusting, abominable, and repulsive.
Probation is a period of good behavior that is under supervision.
