Our Community Playgroup

Last year when we moved here, my daughter was about one year old. Soon, I realized she was getting bored playing with only both of us and now its time she need some new faces or may be some kids or friends with whom she can mingle with. But being early winter, kids were hardly seen in the play area of our community. And as we just moved into the community we hardly knew any families with kids except for two newly wed couples.
I was looking for a group where I could share some information about parenting and my kid could also get some company. I could not take her to the playgroups organized in the public libraries or other places regularly outside our community as I did not drive car at that time.
But, with all these constraints I did not give up. Just like any other mom I was also playing with my kid, reading stories, showing books with different pictures and trying other fun activities for her. I was also acting and singing rhymes to her. And that rewarded me later.
Early this year, some families with kids moved into our community. Some of the kids were around my daughter’s age. Slowly we were acquainted with some of them. As spring came in we could see some kids even in the play area and that was a time even my daughter was enjoying the play area. She then entered the “toddler “age.

That was when the concept of ‘playgroup” came into my mind. I knew that a playgroup is for young children to learn and play in small groups, often close to their homes.
More information about play group can be found here.
When I told this my thought about playgroup, other mom’s were also happy and delighted. Almost everyone readily wanted to start this. Everybody was looking for some regular informative company and a fun place for their kids. That is when our Playgroup started.
Before starting playgroup we assigned ourselves some easy to follow rules like
Each of us we’ll have turns in hosting
Concept is fun and interactive place for kids so no force and pressure if one cannot host under any circumstances.
Flexible kid friendly hours (afternoon time after they finish their nap)
Not to take kids when they are sick
More playgroup tips can be found here

To start with, it was my turn .and then there were 5 kids.2 of them were little older but other three kids were around my daughter’s age.
Initially we had only playtime where majority of the time was dedicated as playtime. That was a time when all of our kids were loners and they just needed some other kids of their age to mingle along with. Initially they were sticking to their mommy. But slowly, they started mingling and sharing their toys.
Then, we introduced rhyme time in which we moms acted and sung rhymes along with kids. That was the time when we started fun game for them like ring –around the Rosie.
Now that was the beginning. Slowly seeing how the kids were doing we were increasing the rhyme time. We were acting and singing about 5 rhymes. Initially only the moms and older kids were doing it. But we did not give up. Most of us knew kids learn by seeing others.so, we kept on doing and after 1 month my daughter learned 2 rhymes. The older kids were singing and acting along. But our young toddlers were watching us do .after few weeks even they started doing. They cannot sing but they act when we sing. My daughter will be two late this month and she now acts 4-5 rhymes if I sing.
Then we introduced story time. For the older kids we read out stories of their choice in an interactive way. For the toddlers we used books with pictures like fruits, vegetables, shapes and animals. Now they are able to recognize the pictures and tell what it is.
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Sometimes, we have birthday parties of kids in the playgroup. Sometimes, we take the kids out mostly during weekend evenings to a park, zoo or beach.
The basic idea behind our play group was a place or way for healthy and safe fun for our kids.So, we never force them to take part in any of the above things. Some kids just prefer playing while some want to have fun doing rhymes. There are some kids who stick to mommies watching other kids doing. Its OK too. Because they are watching other kids and some kids show back in homes what they learnt in playgroups earlier. Every child is unique so every child has their own way to express what they have in their mind. I believe repeating with hope helps. It can be any thing from saying ‘please and thank you’ or any learning sources
In my opinion, playgroups are fun way of learning for toddlers and young kids. In these days when safety is a concern for most of the moms, this is one option to let kids mingle in a safe environment.

So,if any of you moms also attend palygroups plz come forward and share your experiences with us and let us know your opinions and thoughts
Madhavi

"Grounded Till You're 36" video clip

Hi all you lovely momz, and thanks to all who posted for September's Theme of the Month, Back To School! I'm sorry I didn't get time to chime in with a real post of my own; my kids' dad was hospitalised most of the month so things got a little crazy around here! He is on the mend now, and needless to say both my kids are back at school. My son is in his sophomore year at college, invited into the honors program (hooray! this is not the kid I knew in high school!) and my daughter busy in her soph. year of high school with the fall musical and also invited into an honors english class. Best school year yet, for us! Hope all your kids are thriving in their schools too :)

With everything looking up, I did want to pop in with an enthusiastic "nice choice" for October's Theme of the Month -- Traditions (hope I got that right -- I'm not used to posting via blogger so I can't check back to the original :) )

If the kids and I get to relive our October tradition this year, I will certainly post about it (hopefully with pics!); I look forward to reading about all of yours.

Tonight I had a few minutes to sit down and catch up on blogs and bills and general internet browsing -- and I found this hilarious video clip. Dear Moderators, I hope it's ok to embed a clip! It goes very fast, so I listened several times to be sure it didn't include anything offensive -- I think it's safe. It sure made me laugh at the end of a busy day. Although some is geared toward moms of older kids, I think it's universal in its theme and I hope it gives some of you a chuckle too.



And in case the embedded file doesn't work, here's the link.

cross-posted at Out Of The Garden

Desperately Seeking Advice

Hi ladies,

Sorry for not contributing more often, but I am currently going through a divorce and so have been on an emotional roller-coaster over the past few months.. I didn't want to touch on it in my food blog (because my husband is a fan of it), and I don't really want to dwell on it here either, because it's not the reason for my post today, but I thought it was worth mentioning since I'll definitely be posting more about it in the coming months.

Err, see, my son (I call him "Jojo" all the time) just turned 4 in August and until now, still refuses to eat anything but mash even though he has 18 beautiful little teeth!! Anyone has this problem, too? The strange thing about him is that he displays ZERO curiosity about food, and strangely, the only things he deigns to bite are M & Ms and gummy candies (I know I shouldn't be giving him too many of them, but there are days bribing as a last resort gets the better of me, haha)... if anyone has had the same experience as mine with their kids, I'd like to know how they managed to "convert" their kids to solids. :) I don't want to use heavy-handed tactics, but my kid is terribly stubborn and I suspect only reverse psychology will work on him! And he's only 4! Yikes! :)

Thanks in advance for your help!
Hugs!

Theme for October

[This post is written by Tharini of Winkie's Way.]

Hi Girls...

Please excuse me for the delay in introducing the theme for October. I meant to do it on Friday, but Sathya went into a viral, and we had guests over the weekend. So this got skipped.

I have always wondered about family traditions. The kind that is created within each family, and unique to them. The kind that brings every member together in a close knit circle, and deepens the existing bonds. Something, that gets cloaked in years of memories, to be retrieved by the trigger of something innocuous...and you find yourself dusting the layers off of them and feeling warm and cosy inside. These are the traditions I wonder about, and I know there will be many.

And this, will be the theme for this festive month on DMC. What are the family traditions that you recollect from your own childhoods and growing years? Is it something that you still continue with your own family even now? Or is there something in special that you would like to adopt and hold on to? It could be anything (no rigid criteria here).....family prayers times, a special game, a special kind of meal, traditions around festivals, travel traditions, a special book....anything...anything at all. Anything that brings you all together in it.

I hope we can look forward to a lot of responses and a lot of sharing of stories. Happy October DMC'ites! :D

Help Needed...and this time Urgent

Hi Girls (ok Moms),
I say girls because that is the way I feel when I am with my friends around. Not ladies, females, women…no, just carefree girls who are also very responsible Moms.

Ok, first the good news is that the Desi Momz Club has made its presence felt is proved :) How ? Because now we now have websites/groups with almost the same names as ours who are trying to invite members from our Club to go and contribute at theirs, HUH ?? If you are still clueless check comments at the previous post.

Now why do I need help ? Because this is your blog and the thing is due to some commitments on the personal front I will be on a time crunch from this month. So I really, really need some help with this blog. I will still do all the admin stuff, but I need help with the other areas like posts, theme of the month etc.
I had requested earlier, but most of you missed. So I hope you will not give it a miss this time.

1. The Theme of the Month is a theme we decide for each month and request Moms to post. This needs fresh ideas. Please opt to take up a month and decide for a theme you think appropriate for that month. Conduct the Theme for the month you choose your way. Please send me a mail to volunteer. Following months are being done by:

Theme of Month for October -- Tharini

Theme of Month for November -- Kodi's Mom

2. Please come up with fresh interesting ideas and how we can implement them in this blog. I keep on telling, this is everyone’s blog so if you have ideas about making this a better community please let all of us here know.

3. Our club is not only about the Theme of the Month as you all know. So please feel free to share stories about your kid, interesting game ideas (remember Puzzles), activities (remember Rainy day Activity) and in fact anything that you think would be nice to share with all other Moms like us. I know many times I prowl around and ask you to post stuff but please please go ahead and share because I might not prowl that often :)

4. Many of the Moms here have a blog of their own where they chronicle their kid milestones. If you do not have a blog but would like to share milestones of your kids, or some incident involving them which you would like to chronicle and at the same time do not mind sharing with others, please feel free to do so. We would love to hear about your kids. Just remember to write "This post by X" for your posts, that way when searched with your name, you can get a collection of all posts written by you.

5. Last and the most interesting bit, after reading this post at Tharini's, Tharini & me ran into this grand idea to have a Kid Food Fest at DMC. The food fest would be showcasing Desi style food for kids that can be packed for school lunches without a mess and should be healthy and interesting enough so that the kids eat it without a fuss. Please,please respond with ideas as to how you would like the Food Fest conducted, would you pick a day each week to showcase Kid Food, does any of you want to conduct it ? Let me know and I will put up the general guidelines for Food Fest

Hope to hear from everyone this time and lets make this a wonderful community

Mommy Humor

Posted by Kavitha

Hey moms,
I had fun reading it, I know you will too..

THE NEXT SURVIVOR SERIES
(For those that don’t know about the popular TV show – SURVIVOR, read it here)

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes.

There is no fast food.

Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, complete science projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of "pretend" bills with not enough money.

In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.

Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time.

Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment and a hair cut appointment. He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care (weekend, evening, on a holiday or right when they 're about to leave for vacation).

He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.

Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.

Each father will be required to know all of the words to every stupid song that comes on TV and the name of each and every character on cartoons.

Each man will have to make an Indian hut model with six toothpicks, a tortilla and one marker; and get a 4 year old to eat a serving of peas.

Each man must adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep their nails polished and eyebrows groomed.

The men must try to get through each day without snot, spit-up or barf on their clothing.

During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties.

They must try to explain what a tampon is for when the 6-yr old boy finds it in the purse.

They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.

He will need to read a book to the children each night without falling asleep, and then feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair each morning by 7:00. They must leave the home with no food on their face or clothes.

A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name. Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.

They must clean up after their sick children at 2:00 a.m. And then spend the remainder of the day tending to that child and waiting on them hand and foot until they are better.

They must have a loving, age appropriate reply to, "You're not the boss of me".

The kids vote them off the island based on performance.

The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.

After you get done laughing, send this to as many females as you think will get a kick out of it and as many men as you think can handle it.

Preparing for school

This post is by Kodi's Mom of Kodimeow Kronicles

Last week of September and still only a handful of posts for theme of the month?! Come on guys, if you don't remember your first day of school surely you remember you kids'?
I remember my kid's first day with crystal clarity...as if it was only the day before.

Ahem. It really was the day before yesterday. My son is a week away from 2, and we started his daycare/school/pre-school/whatever-you-want-to-call-it this week. And this is one of the worst weeks of my life. The only consolation is after the initial tears have been wiped away, he ends up having a whole lot of fun. I thought I'd share my experience of what I did to help with the transition.
(Please don't take this as tips or advice - for I haven't seen results of any of this working so far. As of today he cries, even as we are getting ready for school.)

Kodi is a shy kid. In group settings, he prefers to cling to me and observe for a long time, before participating. He does not like crowds, and does a whole lot better in one-on-one interactions. With familiar faces, he is somewhat at ease.

Keeping that in mind, I thought making the environment familiar to him would help him majorly.

1. Even before we had picked on the school, we took him on a tour. There were different family members we wanted to show the school to, and each time we went, we took Kodi along. One of those times, the class was doing water play outside, and they welcomed him to join. He was thrilled and had no problems stepping in and playing. (yes, yes, only because we were right there in his sight!)

2. When we did finalize on the school, there were forms to be picked up and dropped off, and each time, I made the extra drive home to pick him up and take him with me. I took him to his classroom and he'd look longingly at the toys there and itched to go play.

3. A week or so before the start date, I took him to meet with his teacher. One hello from her and he turned the other way! But at least she was no longer a stranger. At that time, the classroom was empty and with permission, he went in and played to his heart content. Well not quite, I picked him up just as he was having fun, so he would want to come back.

4. Later that week, we made use of the free observation sessions that the school offers. Typically parents pick this option before they select the school - so they can come in with their kid, stay for an hour and observe the classroom. We choose to do it as close to his start date as was possible, on two consecutive days and timed it to coincide with outdoor play time. Both sessions went well and we left on a positive note, with Kodi refusing to come back home with me.

5. During the observation sessions, the teachers talked to me in detail and asked several questions about Kodi to get to know him better. It was good to know that they took the effort. A lot of my initial doubts were cleared, and whether it helped Kodi or not, it helped me big time!

6. At my request and after the first day's progress, we hashed out a plan to let him go only for 2 hours the first week. Based on how this week goes, we plan to increase it to one hour at a time...include lunch one day, include naptime the next and so on till he's fairly comfortable going the whole day. As of now, he is there for a little over two hours, does not eat any meals there, except for a snack, and does not stay for naptime.

7. Beyond this, school featured regularly in all the stories we told him. And we tried to paint a very luring picture.

8. I am sure reading appropriate books would have helped too - but we didn't try that - he is in a I-don't-care-for-books phase.

Added: Can't believe I forgot to add these!
9. Based on the strong recommendation from Tharini, we started homeopathy for Kodi. Just to give a boost to his immunity to fight those ball of germs that will come at him!

10. We also requested his grandma to come for a visit, since having her at home for at least a month would make it possible for him to go only a few hours a day.

11. And last, but most importantly, I blogged! Post after post about school - and the support, cheers and comfort I got from moms (and non-moms!) from everywhere was so touching. I think this was more to prep me than Kodi :D

So that's it! We don't know how long the crying period will last - or if any of this helps him at all - but I had to do whatever was within my bounds. And yes, I know it is a matter of time before I come back here to whine that he's picked school over me :)

Now over to you - either in comments or in separate posts, what did you do to prep your kid (and yourself!) for first day?