Parents have a myriad of reasons for joining (and not joining) a play group. Most often, parents who don’t join a group with their newborn cite their own lack of need. For example (summarized):
“Oh, I don’t need a group, I have plenty of family nearby”
“Yeah, I didn’t join a group because I worked as a {child care or educational professional role} and already know what stages my baby will grow through”
At the newborn age, we most often see that parents are looking for opportunities to interact with other parents during the week - making new friends with children in the same life stage is the number one reason we hear for why parents join a PEPS group with TAPS. As children grow, however, parents’ reasons for attending play groups shift - we most often hear that they want to expose their child to the educational content of the program at ages above 6 months.
Next week - What’s the difference between depth and breadth of social connections? Do you need one more than the other?
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However, research shows that participating in a play group has multiple benefits for parents, children, and the whole community. Check out what Australian researchers are saying -
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