Vote please - IS playgroup for a mums own time or for the kids to socialize??

[horseshoe]

Doing a bit of market research here and wondered if you would be happy to put your children in a playgroup that was cheaper but meant that you had to stay on the premises.

Im thinking about starting a social morning. Rather like a mum and toddler group but angling for all ages. What do you think??

If the facilities were good then I would be interested. I put dd into playgroup not just for the socialisation but for the structure of the sessions and the organised play. If it was just a free for all / mother and baby style session then, no.

A bit of both really. But I must say - my boys join in much less (and so get much less out of it) when I am there. They tend to be clingy if I am around.

both... sorry a bit of a cop out!

I found with both my children that if I stayed with them at playgroup (sometimes parents helped out) that they got very jealous when I paid attention to other children and just seemed to cling to me. The carers said that my children acted very differently when I was there too. I was happy to leave them as I believed that they were happy to be left.

There's room for both I think. Pre-schools allow you to drop the children off for a bit of independent time, toddler groups allow you to socialise while the children enjoy themselves.

I think a social morning is a lovely idea.

and often it is good practice to start leaving them and not attending everything they go to - in terms of getting them ready for school.

I use playgroup for Ds to socialise but without relying on me soo much. It is also the only time I get to spend 1-1 time with DD which wont be for long once DB arrives. We go to a toddler group one morning aswell that is very structured and both my children love it there. That is when I also get to socialise...

My Ds1 attends a playgroup twice a week where I have to stay with him. When he turns 2 in december I am going to take him for 1 morning a week where I can leave him.
He has been going since before he could crawl - he loves it and to be honest wouldn't notice if I was there or not, he is not a clingy child.
In the last 18 months, since we've been going I've gone from knowing nobody (we were new to the area), to making some really good friends as well.