Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Encouraging Participation in Playgroups after Returning to Work

Often Playgroups will fold when one or both parents return to work. Whether there is financial stress and mums and dads need to work, the reality is, at some point, they will return to work. How do you keep Playgroups going and providing a platform for the children to interact in a healthy environment after returning to work? Here are some suggestions that might help:

1.      One thing our mother’s group did was put together a contact list, with everyone’s work schedules captured so when organising events and catch ups everyone could be accommodated. It’s important to consider everyone in the group and do your best to accommodate.  We started running two catch up days a week instead of one so if a mum missed the Tuesday group because she was working, she could come along to the Friday group. 

2.       You could start a ‘working parents group’ instead of a ‘playgroup’ if everyone has gone back to work.  This could include movie nights, Sunday brunches with kids, book clubs (for both children and adults). Weekends are a nice time for families to get together and give the kids a chance to play with their friends and engage in activities.

3.       Start an email newsletter to keep in touch. This would be particularly helpful for those that haven’t been able to be accommodated into a playgroup since returning to work. It’s a way to make them feel included in what’s going on and welcome if and when their situation changes.

4.       Another option is to be creative with the location of playgroup. Hold it at a shopping centre, someone’s home, community centre or a park.

5.       Splitting playgroups into smaller groups at different times could also work. Allocating two timeslots - or more if a larger group - will make each playgroup smaller to begin with but will allow openings for new families and allow intimate interaction for a while with the few families that attend. Sometimes it’s nice to interact within a smaller group, which often encourages the children to play with different friends.

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