Toddlers and Childcare
PLAYGROUP:
Evolving for over 40 years
Playgroup Queensland has been providing families with Playgroup services with the help of Playgroup Contact Persons (dedicated volunteers who organise the Playgroups, assist new members and provide members with support) for over 40 years. In that time, Playgroups have evolved and more grandparents, fathers and carers are attending Playgroup.
TODDLERS AND CHILDCARE
Playgroups are play orientated sessions for children aged 0 – 5 years and are held in halls, churches, parks and in homes. A Playgroup session generally runs for one to two hours and are scheduled at a time for children to engage in quality play with their parent or carer. Activities can include craft, outdoor play, singing and reading books. Playgroups also provide parents and carers with the opportunity to meet other local families and create lifelong friendships.
What do you find challenging as a Playgroup Contact Person? Our Playgroup runs every morning during the work week from 9:30am to 11:30am and I found that managing and communicating with each group can sometimes be a bit tricky. How do you overcome these challenges?
Meet Thashni – Playgroup Contact Person for the Good News Community Playgroup Thashni is the Contact Person for a Playgroup that runs 5 days a week at Jamboree Heights. Thashni attends the Playgroup every Wednesday with her son. Why did you join Playgroup? My husband is Australian and I am South African and we met in London and moved to Australia when I was heavily pregnant with our daughter. We settled in a new area and even though I saw other mothers around with babies, I didn’t have many mum friends. So I started looking for Playgroups within our area and I was lucky enough to find a local one. What do you enjoy most about your Playgroup? I love the set routine of it. My son and I look forward to catching up with our friends each week. He loves talking about his friends at Playgroup and I can see the improvement in his
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social skills. The parents that attend are able to share funny parenting stories with people that fully understand and we can give and receive advice in a friendly environment. We also share information on kid friendly events happening in and around our areas. Mostly though, I get to be with my son and watch him grow socially, learning to share and learning to think of others. What motivated you to take on the role as a Playgroup Contact Person? The position became available in April and I took the opportunity as I wanted to give back to my Playgroup. I have made so many lovely friends and I love feeling like a part of our community. What do you enjoy most about being a Playgroup Contact Person? I love that I get to meet so many new parents and carers. I love working together on projects and I enjoy the sense of “giving back”.
Your Local Families Magazine – Brisbane Issue 6 - October/November 2014
To improve communication between all five Playgroup sessions, I created a Facebook page to share news and ideas. I attend the Wednesday session and have made it a point of not dealing with Playgroups matters during the session, allowing myself quality time to spend with my son and our friends. I’m happy to deal with any matters that come up before or after the session, which helps me enjoy my Playgroup time. Have you created friendships within the group that now see you socialising on nonPlaygroup days? Yes, definitely. I feel that I have been blessed to somehow have a set of people in my Playgroup that are not judgemental at all – we are a relaxed group of parents and carers. Initially when I started Playgroup, I had no friends in Australia and now I have a network of parent friends. Has being a Playgroup Contact Person assisted in developing work skills? Most definitely. I am currently a Stay at Home Mum and have been for a few years. I found that some of the skills that I utilised in the workforce have waned because I am around little ones all day. Now that I am a Contact Person I am arranging meetings, managing the processes around our Playgroup and I have been involved in marketing, finances – just to name a few! I find that the skills that I thought that I had lost are all still there and now being utilised and strengthened!