Even before your child grows out from the baby stage, you start considering what activities to enroll for your child.  If you are in Hong Kong, then there is over 90% chance that one of the options to consider are “playgroups” – classes that introduces kids to many types of external stimuli that helps with their development. Many of us dads understand the experience of bringing our kids to playgroups, myself included. My wife had been bringing our kid to play groups for a while now so I took over the role to let her take a break. Definitely a new experience, definitely tiring, and definitely an eye opener to the starting stage of a child’s education, so in this entry, I share some of our first experiences and thoughts about the classes.

How was my First Playgroup Experience?

Playgroup classes are between 1.5 to 2 hours long, because there is a sequence of activities to follow each time. It starts off with an introduction, usually a Hello song of some sort as a form of quick icebreaker and get everyone acquainted. Afterwards, the activities will include a mixture of song and music (following rhythm, literacy), painting (touch and creativity), interaction with various toys (hand-eye coordination). There will be a ~15 minute snack break in the middle, but between activities there are no stops, so you may feel like constantly going from one activity to another. If your kid runs around a lot, the class becomes more physical as you chase after your kid, giving you quite a workout if you are not used to it. Time can go by very quickly or very slowly depending on how involved your child gets, which translates directly to how enjoyable or busy the class will be for you. Do expect quite a bit of handling.

Probably owing to the timeslots of the classes, mostly the mums and helpers are the ones who bring the kids to these sessions, but now and then, there are dads too. There are two types of dads that I see bringing the kids to play groups, either: 1) the really involved dad playing with the kid e.g. me (of course); or 2) the dad that sit there let their kids do their own stuff while he plays with his phone. The second type of dad are usually at risk of getting into trouble if their kid goes out of hand – such was the case of one dad who didn’t watch his kid close enough that the kid got paint all over him during the painting session. When the dad realized, his words were similar to “Crap, I’ll be in trouble when I get home”. Too late for him to do anything about it~

I had a brief chat with one or two parents during one of the sessions. It was an early Sunday morning class and not many kids showed up this time so it was easier to do some quick chitchat. I guess for dads, we tend to be more laid-back with regards to these classes because during the conversation, I felt there are less underlying comparisons between kids, not that we don’t care but probably we may be more focused on getting through the class without the kids making a mess. As long as they get some exercise, participation and expended some of their energy, that is good.

Playgroups

Last week, our kid also started a gym session to help him explore his physical limits and interacting with the environment. I began to see how many varieties of programs are available to apply for, catering to the different needs of the child e.g. socializing, physical, initiative, brain development to mention a few. Sometimes I wondering exactly how many classes will a kid need, or how many classes each week will give him a decent balance of home and outside activity. In November, my kid will be at 2 playgroups and continuing with the gym class, so he will be occupied at least 3 of 7 days each week, and so will I, as I’m the one taking him to these classes. In my opinion, that is enough activities in a week and having a bit of additional time for him to rest or do other stuff if the need arises. Yet, I also hear some parents line their kids up almost an activity each day. I sometimes wonder if it will overload the kid, or if the kid really learns any more stuff.

Playgroups are often considered the first hurdle to a child’s education in Hong Kong because this sets them up for the next step: nurseries. Most child education centers offer playgroup to K3 education, so starting them at the playgroup stage gives them priority when continuing up to nursery and then to kindergarten. For example, one of the centers offer interview exemption and priority for nursery if I start my kid in their playgroup. I’ll discuss this and more considerations for playgroups in the next entry (Part II).