Republican & Herald

The Schuylkill, PA Republican & Herald speaks to some Moms in Kristine E. Kelly-Kaplan's Stay-at-Home Mom’s Play Group, who are "glad", "lucky" and "happy" to have found her Meetup.

Amazing.

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... “I am from the area and I just happened to hear about this from my husband,” said Heather R. Garrity, Pottsville. “I am really glad I did.”

Garrity has a home-based business and is a working mom on maternity leave from her job at the Schuylkill County Courthouse. Her daughter, Abigail R., is 6 months old.

“To be honest, I did miss working, especially before I found this group and had some adult interaction,” Garrity said.

“This has really made a difference. I feel really lucky to have found this group,” said Denise E. Brayford, Frackville.

Brayford returned to her part-time job as an aide at Schuylkill IU 29 when her daughter, Ainsley C., was first born. Now, however, she is a stay-at-home parent.

“This has been absolutely helpful for my wife because her only interaction all day was with the baby and although we planned that and we wanted that tight bonding, this lets her find new friends and allows Ava Grace to meet new children,” Kelly-Kaplan’s husband, Art, said.

Brayford said her husband is also happy she found the group.

“Kids don’t really talk back when they are young,” she said. “My husband did want to hear about what she did during the day; but every little detail about what she did during the day? I didn’t really have anything else to talk about.”

...A native of Long Island, N.Y., Gauvreau said with her first two children, daughters Melissa, 14, and Alexa, 5, she worked outside the home. Now she appreciates the camaraderie of the group.

“Going to the parks can be lonely without others,” she said. “This is so nice to be able to talk to people with more than one-syllable words,” she joked.

“The goal of the group is for everybody to get out of it what they want and to bring people together,” Kelly-Kaplan said. “Every day we think of something new to do.”

She said she hopes the group will be self-sustaining in the years to come.

Pointing out another benefit of membership, she said, “Not only are we forming friendships, it is a safe place for the kids to play. Ava Grace will have these friends for years to come.”

05/14/2006

Play group offers encouragement for local parents

BY LISA COONEY CORRESPONDENT

Ask any mother.

Having a new baby can be one of the most exhilarating experiences in life. It can also be one of the most isolating.

But today, new Mommies — and Daddies, too — have a resource to help them connect with other young parents while having fun with their children.

It’s called the Schuylkill County Area Stay-at-Home Mom’s Play Group.

“We are not just for stay-at-home moms,” said the group’s founder and organizer, Kristine E. Kelly-Kaplan, Frackville, as her 13-month-old daughter, Ava Grace, balanced precariously on a blanket.

The group gathered recently at the Mar Lin playground for a play date in the park.

“We have moms who work from home, work part-time or work full-time outside of the home,” she said. “Daddies are always welcome and encouraged to attend play dates,” she said.

In fact, you don’t even have to be from Schuylkill County to join.

Currently, 21 families, from Elys-burg to Reading, enjoy getting together with other members at local parks, restaurants or in each other’s homes.

Members have traveled together on day trips to Hershey’s Chocolate World, Heisler’s Dairy Farm, the Lewistown Valley, Cabela’s, Hamburg and the spring Corn Festival in Allentown.

At least once each month, moms leave the little ones at home for a relaxing Girl’s Night Out at local restaurants and many group events are touted as family affairs where everyone in the family is welcome. One such event was the group’s recent Easter egg hunt.

The group’s moms range in age from 22 to 40, with 39 children among them.

They find they share much in common with each other and all value the support and friendships they’ve formed.

Kelly-Kaplan formed the group in January through the Web site called Meetup.

As a stay-at-home mom, she said, she went slightly stir-crazy during the winter months.

“I started searching on the Internet and couldn’t find any groups in the area. I was looking for some other people in my same situation to get out and have play dates,” she said.

As a single parent, Kelly-Kaplan said, she worked full-time while raising her older children, Ryan R., 17, and Cody J., 14.

Then she and her husband, Arthur D. Kaplan, decided she should stay at home when Ava Grace was born.

“It was a tough decision, especially because of the health care issue,” she said. “I was the one with health insurance for our family.

“The main thing was the childcare,” she added. “We didn’t have anyone in the family to watch her and we would have had to put her in day care.

“I am very fortunate now that I had the opportunity to stay home,” said Kelly-Kaplan, a former aide at the Schuylkill Intermediate Unit 29.

According to U.S. Census Bureau information, the number of stay-at-home mothers in 2004 was 5.6 million. Fifty-five percent of mothers with infant children are in the work force, down from a record high of 59 percent in 1998. That year, 80 percent of mothers with children over 12 were in the work force.

Statistically, 51 percent of first-time moms return to work within four months of giving birth and the average cost of weekly day care for one child in 2005 was $92.

Preschoolers — children under 5 — are more likely to be cared for by a relative (40 percent) than by a nonrelative (35 percent), while 11 percent are regularly cared for by both, according to the Census Bureau. Grandparents accounted for 23 percent of these child care providers and fathers account for 11 percent.

The number of single mothers living with children under 18 is 10 million, up from 3 million in 1970.

Several of the local play group members are recent transplants to the area.

One of the group’s assistant directors, Niki Chaves, moved to Schuylkill Haven when her 7-month-old son, J. Aaron, was merely a week old.

“After I recovered from the move, I wanted to find children close to his age and adults close to my age and learn my way around. This (the play group) has been really nice for me,” said Chaves, who hosted a baby shower in her home for another group member, pregnant with her second child and who never had a baby shower.

“I am from the area and I just happened to hear about this from my husband,” said Heather R. Garrity, Pottsville. “I am really glad I did.”

Garrity has a home-based business and is a working mom on maternity leave from her job at the Schuylkill County Courthouse. Her daughter, Abigail R., is 6 months old.

“To be honest, I did miss working, especially before I found this group and had some adult interaction,” Garrity said.

“This has really made a difference. I feel really lucky to have found this group,” said Denise E. Brayford, Frackville.

Brayford returned to her part-time job as an aide at Schuylkill IU 29 when her daughter, Ainsley C., was first born. Now, however, she is a stay-at-home parent.

“This has been absolutely helpful for my wife because her only interaction all day was with the baby and although we planned that and we wanted that tight bonding, this lets her find new friends and allows Ava Grace to meet new children,” Kelly-Kaplan’s husband, Art, said.

Brayford said her husband is also happy she found the group.

“Kids don’t really talk back when they are young,” she said. “My husband did want to hear about what she did during the day; but every little detail about what she did during the day? I didn’t really have anything else to talk about.”

In coming months, in addition to numerous playground visits, group members will travel to Camelback beach, Tuscarora State Park, the Schuylkill County Fair and the Bloomsburg Fair.

Members are encouraged to make suggestions for activities and all are welcome to attend the events that fit into their schedules.

“It is such a welcoming group,” said Heidi A. Gorski, Schuylkill Haven, whose son, Alex Jr., 5 weeks, is the youngest in the group.

“It is easy to be a member,” she said. “You don’t have to go to everything. You are always welcome, but you are not shunned if you don’t go.”

She and her husband, Dr. Stanley J., also have a 19-month-old son, Stanley J. Jr.

“We do want active members. We do not want unsavory people or people trying to sell us something,” said Kelly-Kaplan, who screens potential members via the group’s Web site — http://sahp.meetup.com/18 — before inviting them to join.

For more information on the group, contact Kelly-Kaplan at 590-7362 or e-mail her at kristinekel@yahoo.com.

On the Web site, members can find and register for upcoming events.

Through a message board, the group shares information on a variety of topics, such as potty training, meal ideas, cold remedies , breastfeeding and other topics.

There also are photos of recent get-togethers and members conduct polls to find out what dates or times of day are better for activities.

A fee of $12 to help cover the yearly cost of the Web site is charged upon acceptance into the group.

Through such Web interaction, members Garrity and Nancy F. Gauvreau, Pottsville, discovered they had their children just hours apart on the same day, delivered by the same doctor in the same hospital.

Gauvreau’s third child, Benjamin C., shares the birthday of Nov. 7, 2005, with Garrity’s daughter, Abigail.

A native of Long Island, N.Y., Gauvreau said with her first two children, daughters Melissa, 14, and Alexa, 5, she worked outside the home. Now she appreciates the camaraderie of the group.

“Going to the parks can be lonely without others,” she said. “This is so nice to be able to talk to people with more than one-syllable words,” she joked.

“The goal of the group is for everybody to get out of it what they want and to bring people together,” Kelly-Kaplan said. “Every day we think of something new to do.”

She said she hopes the group will be self-sustaining in the years to come.

Pointing out another benefit of membership, she said, “Not only are we forming friendships, it is a safe place for the kids to play. Ava Grace will have these friends for years to come.”

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