Failed our steiner toddler group

[Orangeflower7]

I was looking for a smaller more relaxed kind of toddler group for my ds (2.5). Got a bit fed up with the big busy groups lots of ride ons etc..so tried the steiner group. Just met one of the mums from it today who is 'sad it didn't work out for me' and am feeling a bit of a failure.

I'll explain a bit. It went on for ages and we all had to sit round the table and make a woolen spider which to be honest the children were to young to do- ds got frustrated and threw it away. It seemed that it was for the mums really, (craft) I found it stressful as I had to help make the activity so much whereas ds wanted to go play, and there was no choice of activity, all the mums were sat doing the craft activity so the children who were playing didn't have much input really.

The routine was like this (over 2 hrs) Craft-then (adults make snack which children couldn't eat just yet) -singing-then wash hands (line up) then-sit up and eat snack- then story.

I just found it too much direction and sitting down stuff for a 2 year old..although the (mostly little girls) other children seemed very obedient

It is a shame as it would have been a nice change...didn't find it very child centred though. Please tell me it's not just my ds is it, I do know a little about early years and the emphasis is a lot on play, (adult led and child initiated, choice and independence, how does that sit then with steiner?

So back to the big groups we go.

If a parent wants to do crafts, isn't that what evenings stuck at home with the kids asleep are for?

I don't really understand the concept of it. For me, a playgroup is the time for my DD to go a bit feral.

Am sitting her LMAO at the image of OrangeBoy throwing in the towel spider and wanting to play like a proper boy.

I wish I could say that will teach 'e,. but it won't. You're well out of it. Bring on the plastic ride-ons and the mad rowdiness is what I say.

NormanTebbit Give it 10 minutes and see if the Defenders of the Faith show up...

[waves black crayon around]

Sounds like a nightmare - in fact I think I had a nightmare not dissimilar to that once. Definitely a luck escape. Fwiw, I would have cried too.

If the church hall playgroups aren't for you, could you maybe do something slightly more directed but which both of you can enjoy? We have things like rhythm time, tumble tots, rhyme and time or something - none of which are for me - but they might be worth a go and they usually let you go for a taster session before signing up.

Alternatively, is there a surestart centre near you? Ours is great, only a pound a session, the stay and play is semi-structured, in that the children get to play for an hour, then they all sit round a table and stuff a plateful of fruit (usually involving some wrestling over the last piece of banana) and a drink (prepared by the playleader) then they're all read a story - but they don't stress if little ones want to go off and play instead.

Alternatively, they do a messy play session once a week - where the children get to splash paint, glue and glitter everywhere as freely as they like - with the added advantage of you not having to find it in every nook and cranny in your house for the next umpteen days.

I do go to a church hall type group with dd, but prefer the surestart ones because I don't have to sign up for X number of sessions, so I can go to one one week and the other the next or just go when we feel like it.

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Beloved - I would have been thrown out for sure - apparently all I ever did at playgroup was paint page after page completely black! Pure evil I am.

I can't keep refreshing the page all night
what's going on?

[knits own teeth]

Ah moosemama thanks for the ideas, yes we have a children's centre but with the cuts it's not like it used to be, you can really see it in the group. Whereas the children used to get to sit up eat hot snack like crumpets, not it's much more of a floor picnic! I think it's just got busier at the same time the staff have been cut and it shows.

You do realise that if you go to Steiner your children are NOT supposed to watch any TV at all?
I knew one mum who used a Steiner school for her kids and she was so MORTIFIED that kids aged 4 or 5yrs old were allowed to use educational software on a computer.....It had to be wooden toys or nothing!

I heard he was a complete and utter rascist, and yes it's not far off Scientology, all that Atlantis stuff.

Did the other children have webbed feet and hands......did it smell of brine...?

Was the snack a plate of cockles and whelks?

Sorry my only knowledge of Atlantis is "The man from Atlantis" as Beloved highlighted my 1970's televisual education.....

Belovedcunt.. your name is so... naughty [swoons]. And you casually wave around That Which Must Not Be Named.

Sounds all a bit too much Village of the Damned for my liking.

Playgroups are for burning off energy during cold/wet weather though surely? There is room in my house to sit quietly and watch me do craft, playgroup is where you go to run about when it's not park weather.

Oddly my friend takes her DS to a steiner playgroup and he's an active little soul, might have to ask her if it's the same format because I can't really picture it...

for Moosemama.....

A German friend says Steiner schools are different there- state funded and well resourced.

I don't understand why the toys have to be wooden. Are they morally superior?

I though play groups where meant to be a slice of time where the DCs could play with shit socialise in a safe, controlled environment, while the mums got to sit down and have some tea and a chat. Not some sort of organised dictatorship that ignores individual personality and temperament.

Sounds to me like you were lucky you left half way through and your DS had a chance to run about.

You're not a failure, if anything, they are in that they do not recognise individuality!

Are they morally superior?

of course

The thought of your son lobbing the crappy craft item across the room is very funny.
You had a lucky escape from the mentalists!
[where the fuck are they, looks round]

I went to a Steiner play group once. I thought it was meant to be creative and slightly hippy. Was bloody awful.

There was one child there who had been adopted and this was the very first group his mum had ever taken him to. It was obviously a major deal for her and probably also for him. We did singing. It went on for 30 mins. 30 MINS for a group of 2 year olds. We had to sing about twigs. The little boy, who was 2, and behaving completely normally for a just 2 year old (did I happen to mention he was only 2), wanted to run about after 10 mins of twig singing. The teacher told the mum to take the boy out of the classroom as he was disturbing the others. The mum was devastated - her very first foray into "education" and her child was actively excluded because he was deemed to have failed. Unbelievably unkind from every possible angle. There were a couple of other, to my mind, inexcusable issues as well.

Run, run, run. As others have said, find yourself a nice church group run by lovely old ladies who bring you cups of tea and biscuits and will hold your baby for you when you need a break and hold your hand when you need it. They do exist.

Binfull - my dh has just watched that link with me - with a knowing (and long-suffering) look in his eye.

We were not allowed biscuits. You had to go in another room and eat stuff if it wasn't the stuff provided.

Anyone else feel like collecting a group of MNetters like minded individuals and all go along to a Steiner group.

We could give the DC's espresso and sugar first.