Your First Play Group
Today, at work, we registered children and babies for our first play groups! What I wish I could tell the parents; they probably would not believe. This is so much more than a play group. Don’t get me wrong, the music and play dough, the snacks and songs, are all terrific for your child. But the best part, the part you don’t think about when you sign up for your first play group is this…
You could meet a friend, a fellow mom or dad, that over a shared story about spit up and no sleep, will become the very same friend you call when the kids are leaving for college, and you think your heart may never recover.
When the story is “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” and the teacher asks the group, “who likes to bake cookies?” You can still see your toddler stand up and say, “My mommy buys cookies at Stop & Shop.” You will be mortified, but someday, it will be a wonderful, funny, memory.
The child that is a couple of years older than yours, will later be the captain of the volleyball team when your daughter is a freshman, and their bond is still there.
You will find new people to chat with in the supermarket and in the line for preschool registration. And that one woman, who you thought was judging you, your unwashed hair and stained clothes, turns out to be the funniest person you could ever serve on a committee with.
The boy who is knocking over everyone’s water cups will be the same young man you hire to fix your computer 16 years from now.
You will remember every moment of the first day of play group because it was September 11, 2001, and your class was held on Otis Air Force Base. Two decades later you will take your children to the memorial in New York City and give them the handprints they made in play group at the very moment the world changed forever.
Your child may find a friendship that continues until high school. Soccer camp, little league, voice lessons, algebra are all the places that you might see the same little face that you met in your first play group.
Someone will post a baby picture to the high school yearbook of their child and yours, you will smile and think, I cannot believe they are dating now.
To the parents signing up for their first play group, I hope you share, ask questions, be open and relaxed. Whatever tip you get or friend you make is the icing on the cake to all your child is about to experience.
If you are struggling, if you wonder if you are doing it right, if the days seem long and the nights longer, I promise you there will come a day when you think of this play group fondly. A part of you will wish you could turn back time and do the whole thing again.
Some day you may even have the privilege of being able to hire the very same teacher of your child’s first play group to teach a whole new generation of young children. You will reminisce about this special group and marvel at how many pieces of life’s puzzle were right in front of you and how far you have come putting them all together.
Enjoy your first play group!