By My Side neighborhood parenting group

I'm always so happy when we have visitors at Playgroup. Often seeing us through their eyes is refreshing and informative.

A friend of mine, Janice had helped in the final preps to get Playgroup up and going in our new space.

She spent one of her Sundays off from work, cleaning everything we have (which is alot) for about 4 hours.

I talk alot about the Parenting Program with my friends.....celebrating accomplishments, venting frustrations, sharing worries/concerns and telling the stories of all the cute moments.

Well Jan decided it was time to come see for herself the other day. She hung in the perimeters and just watched.

Later that day, we were talking and she told me how impressed she was with what she saw. Jan has worked in childcare situations over the years so she has some things to compare us to. She is also a Mother, Grandmother & Great-Grandmother.

What impressed her was the ability of all these young ones to be in the same space and have little, if any, conflict. She loved the way they moved from one activity center to the next...doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that. The interaction of the parents with each other and the children was another thing she marveled at. "They were great", she said. "Even the 2 new folks you had show up just jumped right in and looked like they'd been coming for a long time!" "I was really amazed! The atmosphere was just awesome. I never saw a place get cleaned up so fast. Even though the parents did most of the putting away, the kids did help! It was cool watching how they got into Circle Time and how they all sat together for snack. I really enjoyed myself and the next time I come, I'm gonna play, too!" "Now I see what you're talking about and I can understand why you feel so strongly about what you do!"

Seeing is believing!