In message .com,
" writes

Have you been in a playgroup like this that survived preschool and
stayed in close touch? Any tips on how to do this?

My post-natal group still meets up although our first kids are now at
school. There are 4 mums (was 5 but one moved away). It's evolved a bit
in 5 years. When they were babies, we met in cafes once a week, then
switched to our houses in turn. When preschools and nurseries and
part-time working came into the picture, we changed to Tuesday
afternoons one week and Wednesdays the next to accommodate all the
schedules.

We've all now got 2 children and meet with the younger ones every other
Tuesday at 12.30 so we have time to get to our 4 different schools to
pick up the older ones. This is a bit of a pain with lunch and naps and
sometimes we end up bringing a sandwich with us or turning up an hour
late but we've managed somehow. It does mean the older children now
don't see each other but one of the mothers and I arrange separate after
school playdates for our girls as they always got on better with each
other than with the other two and we wanted to keep that friendship
going even with them going to different schools. It's always been mainly
a mothers' support group and it's been especially useful to compare
notes on what the different schools are doing - definitely worth
carrying on with even without the children!

In September all the children apart from my DS who is only 1, will be
starting at different preschools and I'm not sure how that will work but
I'm sure we'll still meet up somehow.
--
Kate in Bristol