Announcements: February 8th 2005
Dear Mom's Club,
I attended a wonderful Parent Connection meeting last night held for Play Group Captains. A variety of topics were discussed, one of them being, how to help all moms feel personally involved in play group. Several wonderful ideas were thrown out which made me realize, I've been doing this too long without involving all of you more.
Moving forward, our Mom's Club will adopt a new structure.
I hope all of you will welcome this new structure with open arms. I realize friends have been made and thoughts of "Do I even need Parent Connection anymore?" may go through your mind. I assure you, if you ask yourselves this question than you truly have not experienced the incredible rewards Parent Connection offers. From swap meets to free classes to carnivals (which our children are just getting old enough for) to discounts at certain events, Parent Connection is a wonderful all volunteer based organization that deserves our continued support.
I also realize due to geographic location and the "largeness" of our group, smaller groups have formed. I think this is great and I'm so happy everyone has made such wonderful friends. I do however encourage all of you to continue to belong to the large core group that I am captain of. It's a way to keep your friendship window open and share comradery among women they way we so need to do.
If however anyone feels they would not like to participate in this play group moving forward, adopting the new structure, please email me and let me know. You will be missed but we will certainly understand. You are also welcome to spin-off your own Parent Connection play group.
Mom's Club New Structure
Beginning in March, Mom's Club activities will be planned in one month blocks.
Each mom will take a turn planning all Mom's Club events during their month.
Months will be shared between two to three moms. (Meaning, you will team-up with another mom to plan your month).
Events you will plan are as follows:
*Playgroup meeting (1x week; you choose day, time, location and post directions)
*Mom's Night out (1x over the course of your month; you choose location, time & post directions)
*Kid Friendly Activity (1x over course of month; example Sea World outing or ferry ride to Coronado)
You can then feel free to add any other personal suggested activities to the month as well, such as beach day or Legoland lunch, etc.
How Will This Work?
We will continue to use www.grueskin.net/mc as our Website.
We will also begin using a Website that will manage our calendar, roster, and group email addresses. It is free and very easy to use.
The web adress is www.smartgroups.com.
I will begin sending everyone in our group online "invitations" to join our smartgroups Mom's Club.
Please read this email, follow the link, and sign-up. You will need to create a password.
Once you do, you should then go into the Mom's Club group, and begin to input your contact information for our roster.
Learning From Example
Here's an example of how our new structure will work:
Suppose Meg & Rachel have agreed March will be their month. They communicate with one another and decide where play group will be held March 4th, 11th, 18th & 25th (they chose Fridays). They login to www.smartgroups.com and input all of this information into our calendar, including time & directions. They then decide it will be fun to invite Mom's Club to Kid City at the Fleet Science Center on March 16th. They then input this info and directions into the calendar. Finally, they want to set Mom's Night Out for March 24th, for a movie in Carlsbad. They input this into the calendar as well.
Rachel and Meg decide to send reminders out to everyone's email one day prior to each event. Smartgroups.com will automatically send out such email alerts.
Come March, fellow Mom's Club moms will simply visit www.smartgroups.com and at any time, to view the calendar & find out where & when activities are held.
*If Rachel & Meg chose December as their month, they would also be asked to work with me to organize & schedule the Holiday Party, etc. If they chose October, than the Halloween party. Your month is seasonal to current events.
New Structure Benefits
*No more last minute "Where the heck is play group this week?" worries.
*Fun experiencing a wide range of activites that your fellow mom friends choose.
*You only have to participate doing "work" for one month, then your off the hook the rest of the year!
*You're putting your own flavor into play group.
*Moms who work can now attend the month they plan!
*You're helping divide the work load away from one mom who can not do it all anymore :)
Final Words
I hope you all welcome this. I look forward to seeing your information added to the www.smartgroups.com website. I will send out a sign-up sheet next. Please email me back with the month you would like to plan. If two people request the same month, you will be paired up.
Many warm thanks,
Meredith Grueskin
mc@grueskin.net
