What are your experiences of parenting groups?

Hi there,





I'd love to know your experiences of being part of a parenting group. How did it benefit you? Or was it a nightmare? How many people attended? Did you go on outings, to cafes, movies, etc? Where were they held, at member's homes? How long did they run for, an hour? Were they weekly meetings?





Sorry for the gazillion questions, but your answers are truely appreciated!What are your experiences of parenting groups?
Well, let's see. I thought that the ladies were nice for the most part, but I did find that people lived too far away from each other to get together often enough to make good friendships. I also got frustrated when I trucked my tootsies 20 minutes to meet at a park I was unfamiliar with , only to have no one else show up. Because of these things, I started my own local group through Yahoo Groups in 2005. It was the best thing I ever did. I limit enrollment to those who live in town or border the town so that everyone lives within 10 minutes of each other. makes it much easier to get together, esp in bad weather. We meet for lunch Bunch, go bumper bowling together, hit the mall play areas, have play dates at each others homes, go to Mom's Night Out once a month and do so much more. The play dates last anywhere from 2 hours to 4. Sometimes, they are just play times and other days we do crafts and treasure hunts. I don't have it set up with meetings and dues or presidents and treasurer. We've all become very close and will watch each others children in a jam. Our husbands have also met at family picnics on weekends and at holiday parties that we set up. If you have any other questions, please feel free to email me. Good luck finding a good fit!! Like another poster mentioned, because I run my group, I have had to deal with amazing amounts of BS, but I also don't have time for crap and just bump troublemakers.What are your experiences of parenting groups?
One week it's like living in hell the next week it's fine and I remember why I do it.





We met one hour (or longer, depends on my mood) at my house. There are 15 Mothers in one group, and 12 in the other.





The first few weeks are rough, because everyone is claiming to be a perfect parent, blah blah blah. Then after a few meets they start to be honest with themselves and others.





One of mine had run since October 05, the other May 08.


We do outings, and there is a yearly charge of 35$ for the activity box. It used to be 2$ a meeting, but no one leaves very often.


We've done swimming lessons in the past, had child specialists come in, and other things. We have craft activities and other things to do every week. And friendships have been formed.





I do like them, I wouldn't have continued them so long, but as I run both of them, I've dealt with so much BS, it's amazing. But I stick with it... Some weeks I do need reminding why I put up with a few of them, but overall, I'm happy.
i'm not sure what's meant by parenting group. if you mean without kids (not like a playgroup), the neighborhood moms in my area get together once a month at one of our houses for a couple hours after all the kids are asleep and talk about issues related to the kids but also completely different issues. there are probably about 15 of us altogether but on a given month we'll get 6-12 depending on how busy everybody is.





i think it's great. it has brought us together and i feel like we have a really unusually tightly knit neighborhood.





*if it was weekly, it would never fly at all. everybody's too busy.
luckly i have a good mums group we go to each others houses and at the end of the cycle we go out for lunch... there are about 7 of us we have them on friday mornings from 10am - 12pm 2 hours but they normally run longer but we dont mind........ as ours are only 6 months they dont play much but we ask each other questions share experiences and its pretty good to get 7 different insights you also may think that something is wrong with your baby if they cry until u find out all of them are feeling the same thing and its all very normal but you have to look to find a good group some can be depressing and not helpful