TTMA Playgroups

[schmella]

So we just signed up for weekly story time at the library (which is super competitive??) and all of a sudden I feel like I'm behind... Are you all taking your kids to play groups and music classes everyday?! Can someone explain what happens at playgroups at this age? I feel like we moved from baby to toddler in a minute and I'm failing at giving them age appropriate experiences...

[fuzzylogic]

Uh...I send my kid to DC and they do stuff there. Other than that, we do a lot of family time and trips to the park and shopping and eating out. I'm probably failing at parenting but at least she's getting normal life experiences?

We both work full time so pretty much anything during the week is out.

[ldubhawksfan]

I do swim class with my mommy and me group, but it's not like they play much....

[schmella]

Sept 18, 2016 22:11:29 GMT -5 ldubhawksfan said:

I do swim class with my mommy and me group, but it's not like they play much....

But you have a mommy & me group? What else does this group do? How did you find them? I'm in a Mother of Multiples group but that very rarely involves the kids

[ldubhawksfan]

Sept 18, 2016 22:17:54 GMT -5 schmella said:

Sept 18, 2016 22:11:29 GMT -5 ldubhawksfan said:

I do swim class with my mommy and me group, but it's not like they play much....

But you have a mommy & me group? What else does this group do? How did you find them? I'm in a Mother of Multiples group but that very rarely involves the kids

I found them when I was about 2 mo pp because I think I was what I think was borderline pp anxiety. I googled mommy and me group in my area. It was a paid thing, but all 6 of us clicked and we just decided to keep in touch without the organization after. We mainly have a text chain and try to meet up every few months as a group. Some ladies do weekly play dates, but it doesn't work with my work schedule.

[whatsit]

I took/ take G to a baby and me reading thing at the library every so often and we've taken swimming lessons. I'm really bad about remembering when each one is and what day of the week it is....

Edit- autocorrect sucks.

[mandie]

I found a great group of girls through a larger moms group. They all have kids around my son's age and a lot of them have babies. We get together at least weekly to play. I honestly just put a post out on the FB group asking if anybody goes to our gym. And our little group just kind of fell together, which i know is extremely lucky for me. Just remember, other people are looking for playdate friends just as much as you are.

We don't do any paid classes for either of the kids, except preschool now for the older one. We do library story time when we feel like it. I think socialization is important, but I'm not focusing on my kids learning anything until preschool time. If they know how to play and be as decent of a human being as a toddler/preschooler can be, then I am happy.

[pearlvirus]

Every day?!? Definitely not. Who has time for that? Now that DD1 is in preschool in the mornings, my goal is to get shit done MW and do fun things with DD2 TuTh. Friday is a float depending on the week. I have never heard of paying for story time or it being competitive... we just show up when it works for our schedule. I did sign us up for a weekly music class starting this week. Is ECFE a thing everywhere?

[yummeecookee]

We dont do any play groups either, but thats due to me working FT. I guess if I was SAHM, I would be looking for things to occupy the little during the day.
When I did SAH w my DD, we just did the library story time once a week. You can also look into national.macaronikid.com/ and find your city. They have event calendars of different things to do.

pearlvirus, ECFE is specific to your state. We just had this discussion on my other BMB. I forget which state the poster was from, midwest somewhere I think.

[kensie5226]

She's a DC baby so the only real organized thing we outside of that is swim class. You've got a built in playgroup!

[winogirl]

We haven't done anything. I used to go to a mom's group on Thursdays but the timing is right over when F usually takes his morning nap and I'm not messing with that. Plus - all the other mom's there are SAH and do things outside the once a week and have gotten a tiny bit click-y since they see each other so much which makes it easier for me to skip too. We keep talking about swim class but haven't gotten around to it. DH takes F over for a play date with a little girl whose dad also SAH usually once a week or so.

[younglove316]

I think a lot of it at this age is more for the moms to get social interaction then anything. When DD1 was about 9 or 10 months I joined a moms group and we would just hang out at each others houses or go to the park for walks and such but the kids never really paid attention to each other. I never really started trying to get involved in too much until DD1 was about 18 months.

You can google MOMS club to see if they have one in your area, that was the one I did. It went away but we all still keep in touch now.

[schmella]

Sept 19, 2016 6:57:57 GMT -5 kensie5226 said:

She's a DC baby so the only real organized thing we outside of that is swim class. You've got a built in playgroup!

Yeah- so they are definitely better socially than most singletons with nannies or SAHPs but I do worry about the twin "weirdness" so I want to get them around OTHER kids

[schmella]

younglove316, that makes me feel better. I have a lot of friends with kids and MIL is always happy to watch them so I can get out, so if it's purely to get ME out of the house, I'm not so concerned.
pearlvirus, I like your schedule. I'm a little lost at this SAHP thing. We had to race to get into the next towns story time because ours books up so fast. They make you pre register- it's free though!
ldubhawksfan, once a month might fit our lifestyle a little better.

[colinsfebmommy]

we are same as fuzzylogic,

We work full time, my feb13 baby goes to preschool 2 days a week so he gets plenty play time there plus on days my MIL watches my kids, all her neighbors have kids my kids ages so he is playing with friends there too.

[schmella]

Ok, so weekly story time, a trip to the play zoo every other week, a visit with friends w other kids once or twice a month, plus random interactions with the neighbor kids should be ok for now then?

[littleredfish]

We kind of rotate activities. Playgroup Monday/Tuesday/and sometimes Friday, Library Wednesday, Swimming lesson Thursday. Playgroup is from 8:30-11:30, we usually stay until 10:45 so we can walk home in time for a nap before lunch. Library is 10-11. Swimming is 10-10:30. So none of the activities take up my whole day. Swimming is the only one that costs anything, but it's $5 drop in.

Playgroup is a mixed bag of ages at DD1s school so I like I can drop her off then just go to the playgroup room with DD2. Moms pretty much sit at the table or on the carpet and chat and watch their kids interact, there is an ECE in charge of the room. I like it because I can have adult conversation and it give her different toys to play with we don't have at home. The library activity I go to is specifically for babies under 1. A worker leads a nursery rhyme and reading thing for half of it then tosses toys in the middle for the babies to play with and roll around and crawl on each other. Swimming is specific for age too.

DD2 is still very high maintenance so when we're home I don't get a lot of time to catch up on house stuff anyways so I like these as an alternative to sitting on the floor with her all day and playing with the same toys in rotation. I get to talk to grown ups, she's learning to be more independent I find because she'll play with the other kids or toys and come find me periodically instead of being attach to me every waking minute. Now we're almost where she will play alone at home for up to 15 minutes at a time and I think these groups have helped with that. I'm not "friends" with any of the moms at the groups, and we don't get together outside of the groups, but I like the minimal commitment.

[rachaeleigh]

We don't do any type of play groups. She goes to day care 2x weekly, as well as the daycare at husbands gym several times weekly. She's definitely getting exposed to other kids.
Other than that, she goes most places with us, shopping, eating out, etc

[younglove316]

Sept 19, 2016 10:18:14 GMT -5 schmella said:

Ok, so weekly story time, a trip to the play zoo every other week, a visit with friends w other kids once or twice a month, plus random interactions with the neighbor kids should be ok for now then?

I say yes

[ldubhawksfan]

Sept 19, 2016 10:18:14 GMT -5 schmella said:

Ok, so weekly story time, a trip to the play zoo every other week, a visit with friends w other kids once or twice a month, plus random interactions with the neighbor kids should be ok for now then?

I think so

[samelly]

Honestly, I think the play groups and classes at this age are more for the moms than for the kids. It is nice to meet other moms and get out of the house and be somewhere new.

Babies can have fun at this stuff but I don't think you need to worry if you don't do a lot with them. A trip to the grocery store or crawling around the house is enough stimulation for them.

[fightersince83]

I went on meetup(.com) and searched mommy groups near me. I signed up for a bunch. It found a group within a group of ladies with Fall babies. I started going when LO was about 3 months. They have multiple meet ups during the week but since I'm back at work I can't make them. We do text and set things up here and there. Honestly it's mostly mommy hang out time, but the kids do enjoy seeing each other and stealing toys from each other.