Playgroup Connections, Part Deux

I’ve written in the past about the importance of a playgroup in my life. When we first moved here at the beginning of the summer, I didn’t know any moms in the area, and I didn’t know about any play groups. Thus, I took matters into my own hands and decided to start one myself.

A couple weeks after our four year old son’s preschool started I sent a letter to each family from his class. In the letter I introduced myself, gave a little family background, talked about how important playgroup had been to me and my children, and invited them to start a playgroup with me. I included a family “business card” with my address, phone number and e-mail address. I thought for sure that some of the stay at home moms would take advantage of this opportunity.

At first the response was slow, and I was rather surprised and a little hurt. I had put myself out there and no one seemed interested. At the outset I made it clear that I wanted the playgroup to be inclusive, supportive and relaxed. How could they not want to spend time with other moms and kids?

I finally received an e-mail or two expressing interest. Feeling a second wind, I decided to follow up the original letter with a call to some of the other moms. Predictably, some of these moms were interested as well. Some of the ladies ended up inviting their neighbors to participate, too. Currently, our e-mail list has 10 names on it.

The first get together was at my house. After a casual discussion, we decided to meet the second and fourth Fridays of each month. Most of the ladies were reluctant to have a weekly commitment and worried that hosting duties might get overwhelming. For those of us interested in more frequent fellowship, we decided to attend story time together at the local library every Wednesday morning.

This week we’re off to the Pumpkin Patch. What a great start! I hope these ladies remain enthusiastic so that our playgroup can really get off the ground. I’m ready to share the next chapter of my life with a new set of rockin’ moms.