I've attended four different public playgroups in the city; with only one exception, they've been wonderful resources for both me and the kid. For my son, they offer a much-needed place to discover new toys, new objects, new little people just like himself. For me, they offer some friendly chats with mothers who know what it's like "on the front lines."
One of those playgroups leaves something to be desired--only one out of the four, and even that one isn't so bad. It's just that the atmosphere there is tense and chaotic (rather than convivial and chaotic, which is pretty much the norm at the other places). I don't know why this is so; but for whatever reason, it feels like the mothers there have built walls around themselves and their children (or the nannies, around themselves and their charges). The mothers and nannies there talk more loudly and in a more aggressive, defensive way than at the other playgroups.
Ironically, this is the most expensive playgroup, out of the ones we're attending, and it's in the wealthiest neighborhood. I don't want to draw any simple conclusions from this fact. It's just that I never much enjoy hanging out there; I've yet to have one conversation with a mother there that I've found satisfying. And yet--I'll probably return; they have enough variety, in the form of toys, that my son always manages to find something interesting to do; and they also have enough changeover in the moms who come to visit, from one day to the next, that I still have a chance of meeting at least one mother with whom I can talk.
No comments:
Post a Comment