How to Start and Run a Successful Playgroup

Three years ago, Amy Ritthaler Gilmour stood on the cusp of one of life’s biggest transitions. An English professor at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, Gilmour—then 29 years old and pregnant with her first child—was about to become a stay-at-home mom. The problem was that she didn’t have any women with whom to share the experience.

“Most of my colleagues at work had grown children, and none of my friends were even married,” Gilmour says. “I yearned for companionship with other pregnant women and moms.”

Gilmour noticed two other pregnant women who lived in her neighborhood. “I got the nerve up to knock on their doors and introduce myself. Within a week, we met for lunch, and then, within the month, all of us had our babies,” she says. From there, the lunch bunch developed into a playgroup.

Six months later, the playgroup grew to include six mothers and their babies. Today, the group is still going strong with a core of about 10 moms (five of whom are pregnant with their second child). They are friends that Gilmour treasures.

“We meet at each other’s houses on a rotating basis. The moms relax, nurse their babies, and talk about everything from potty training to time outs and the kids run around like crazy,” Gilmour says. “We all support each other and put a lot of value on being a mother. It puts us in a good mood, and that, in turn, trickles down to our children.”

Gilmour may have used some old-fashioned gumption to jump start her playgroup, but today’s new moms have technology on their side. Thanks to the Internet and a burgeoning group of playgroup experts—there now are Web sites, books and guides—all with ideas and resources to help parents create their own playgroups.

Carren Joye, a mother of four and the author of A Stay-at-Home Mom's Complete Guide to Playgroups (Writers’ Club Press, 2000), says parents form their own playgroups for one of several reasons:

• they are new to an area and don’t know anyone,
  
• they can’t find a playgroup they like, or
  
• they want the playgroup limited to a specific contingency (older moms, moms of twins, babies, etc.).