I LOVE the M&Toddler Groups I attend............

[TheQueenOfQuotes]

so there.

There's 2 I go to in our town (after trying over 13 ones out ) and the mums are friendly, we don't talk about which supermarkets we shop at and the toys are clean.

Surely I'm not the only one who's found a decent group or 2???

there is a really good one in the village i live in, play & learn, its once a month for 2 hours, lots of activities going on, painting, playdoh, reading, singing, loads of toys, crafting table etc, kids can choose what they want to do and its free. during the summer it was on every week and older ones were welcome too.

the first time i went, they had a messy play area, a dingy full of (dry) porridge oats, ds loved it, was covered in it, tipped it on the floor. i had to stay behind and help sweep up, he took messy play to the extreame!.

lucky u QoQ, no decent group where i live.only ones with inches of grubiness on toys and insanely twee mummies.

Ahh you see I've been very "clever" (well not really nature was very clever ) - I started attending the main one I go to when DS1 was about 20 months old - he's just turned 7 ! The year before he left to go to nursery (he went afternoons so "missed" a year of it lol) I had another baby. DS2 has been attending since he was born (he'll be 4 in November).

DS2 has now started nursery (but mornings only) so still goes in the afternoon......plus I had DS3 16 weeks ago and shall put him down for mornings when he's finally old enough for nursery - which means I have another 4 (ish) yrs left

fihi - for the size of town I live in we seem have a disproportinately (is that the right spelling???) large number of groups - so a bit of hit and miss and I soon found a decent one.

ah well. clearly we live in the wrong place-but i knew that already my D1&2 same ages as urs but dd is toddler. would have found a use for a decent group but those church-hall cringeworthy ones do kill ur enthusiasm for the socialising thing.and that look when you mention 'work' or equally dirty words...not on my planet!

Ours is great too. It meets in a church hall, lots of the mothers work part-time so nobody judges you whether you do or not. Nobody is overly 'yummy' and we are all pretty ordinary, normal people who just want to get out of the house once a week for a chat, a cup of tea and to let the children socialise and have fun.

I get a bit peeved with people who say they don't go to M & T groups because all the people there talk about are their children. IME people talk about all sorts of things if you talk about different things.

DS2 was 4 last Friday so our time at M & T is in its last year. However I have moved twice since DS1 was born 7 years ago and the groups I have been to have been a lifesaver for me when I didn't know anybody in the area. Yes they are hard work to begin with but if you persevere for a month or two you begin to get accepted.