MIJ Parenting Education Academy

I am not a big fan of playgroups as I've always heard that toddlers are asked to do too many things in the 1-hour session and usually the tasks are not finished by the toddlers themselves which the outcome may not be so satisfactory that the toddlers may not learn effectively how to perform a certain task etc. However, I was recommended by another mother friend that she had attended a trial class at this centre and she's joined the course as she liked the teacher and she found the session really beneficial to her daughter. Hence, I've enrolled my daughter for a trial class and see how it is. Being a stay-at-home mom, I was also thinking I may be able to gain some more knowledge in how to play with my daughter at home. So we were there 15 minutes early, and we were welcomed to a waiting room where toddlers could play toys for warming up. It was nice. The lady at the reception seemed to know a lot about toddlers by observing their reactions. When it was the time, we were asked to move to the classroom which they've placed some toys in the middle of the room for the toddlers to play with while waiting for the other participants. Turned out there was only another toddler. In the coming 50 minutes, we did a lot - called the roll and sang Hello song; shook the maraca and sang another song; moved around and sang another song; reviewed the weather of the day; had snacks; touched balls of different textures; practised walking; did handicraft; and sang goodbye song.  It was true that, in a playgroup session, there were a lot of activities; and while doing the handicraft, I intended to let my daughter try herself, but the teacher grabbed her little hand for the task, and the reason was that time was running out and the teacher had to make sure we finished in time. I've learnt that the teacher wasn't the one my friend had. Mine was a substituted teacher. I don't know if it mattered. Overall, I did not really enjoy the one hour spent there.