When I got married I moved to a new city to live with my husband, here I had no friends, only family (of the in law variety), but this wasn't such a bad thing because I was working, had my own car and could basically do what I liked! Then we had children, I left work, we went down to one car, and I was more or less isolated from my friends and family. This is when my Mother encouraged me to look for Mum & Baby groups...and with me being the quiet shy retiring type, I finally got around to going to one when my eldest was about 18 months. I went to the group at the local school, and noticed as soon as I walked in that there was a definite 'in' group which ...  Read the complete review

When my son was about five months old I started looking into activates for my son to participate in. As I had suffered from agoraphobia for many years I didn't even know many people and wasn't very confident in a social situations so I found a music group that meant I could take my son along he enjoyed himself and I got used to been in a social setting without the requirement to sit and chat. The changes I made impacted on both my son and me. Each week my son got more and more confident and would crawl away and would go and get his instruments and got to know the routine of the class and certainly enjoyed himself. I gained confidence in chatting to other moms and became .  Read the complete review

Well what can I say about these groups, well they are not for everyone thats for sure but if you make that huge first step you wont regret it. After deliberating for a few months about going to one on my own (I was really nervous) I decided to go. I was going mad indoors with a small baby. I didnt have any friends with young children and so I depserately needed to get out there and try and meet other mums as well as giving my children the opportunity to get out and mix with other children. When you first walk in it is really daunting I have to admit and I was really shaking with nerves but I had forced myself to do it and was not going to back down ...  Read the complete review

When the twins were tiny but the novelty for visitors had worn off I got pretty sick of seeing the same four walls and health visitor so I sought out a baby and toddler group. I lived in a pretty awful area, out of sheer desperation for space once the twins were conceived and as it was local the group was filled with the people who lived in the area. I didn't like it and I hated how cliquey it was, despite the bizarre lack of standards (stereotype Coke in a bottle scenario), how everyone would scoot off at a rate of knots when it was time to tidy up and the distinct lack of toys. At that stage the twins were 6 months old and I stuck with it for a while ...  Read the complete review

Toddler groups vary considerably and everyone that I've spoken to was very nervous the first time they went to one on their own, so if you're thinking of going and feeling a bit scared, or you went to one and thought it was horrific I would encourage you to try again. I've been to two toddler groups, the first one I visited when my son was about 3 months old and I didn't get through the door it just looked too scary and intimidating. I went back again 2 or 3 times when my son was just under a year old as by then I knew other people who went but I would never go back again. The room is filthy, my son crawled away from me and within 5 seconds his knees were ...  Read the complete review