Monday 25 June 2012

Another New Time!

We have changed the group time again - the afternoon time was tricky for parents of school children. The new (and hopefully firmly fixed!) time is 12-2pm with a shared, STRICTLY VEGETARIAN lunch. This is important, because although we are a secular group, we meet in the premises of a Synagogue, and Synagogues have important food laws which could be breeched by bringing meat onto the premises.

Our next meeting is on Tuesday 10th July, and we will be looking at cloth nappies and all things toilet-y! Look forward to seeing you there!

Monday 7 November 2011

New Meeting Time!

We've taken a consensus and we have changed the time of our meetings. They will still be on the second Tuesday of the month, but now we are meeting in the afternoons. We will now be meeting

Second Tuesday of the Month
1:30 pm

Our November meeting will be on the 8 November. Hope to see you there!

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Next Meeting

We are really looking forward to our next meeting, which is this coming Tuesday (10th May) from 10am - 12pm at Bournemouth Reform Synagogue. Please come if you are able to - we will be sharing parenting tips which have worked for us.

There will also be time to look at the regular sling, nappy and book library, and to recycle some of your old childrens' clothes in our new Kids Clothes Swap Shop.

There is a £1 per family suggested donation, for those who feel able to donate.

Hope to see you there!

Sunday 17 April 2011

Thanks to all our sponsors (or something like that!)

We have had so many generous donations that we really feel we ought to name check a few people!

Firstly, the lovely mums from The Green Parent Forum; Allie, BeckW and Snowleopard, who sent us the very first nappies for our Nappy Library - you will be pleased to know that some of them have already been borrowed! Thanks also to Jacqui, who sent us a huge box of books for our book library.

Nannie Cool very kindly gave us 1.5 slings for our Sling Library (one just for us and one shared with Solent AP Group) for just £15 - a saving of about £45! She has also donated some fleece wraps for our Nappy Library.

LittleLambs blew our minds and sent us no less than 14 nappies and 4 wraps for our Nappy Library - bamboo, organic cotton and microfibre shaped nappies in both sizes and two of their lovely new pocket nappies!

We have also received a Wonderoo V2 from Babykind and have been promised a donation from Nature Babies. We can't quite believe how generous these companies are being, but it is really making a difference to our libraries - thank you all so much!

Finally, thank you to Bournemouth Reform Synagogue for allowing us to use their premises for a nominal rent and Boscalicious for giving us a prime spot on their website to advertise the group.

Saturday 16 April 2011

First Meeting!

Well, the first meeting was (if we say so ourselves!) a success! :) Lots of parents, parents-to-be and a range of ages of children made for a hectic, but enjoyable time. We talked about the joys and challenges of Attachment Parenting - the things we really love, and which make our lives easier and more enjoyable, and the things which we feel are the right things for ourselves and our families, but which we struggle with a bit more in reality!

Some of the things we really love included waking up with laughing babies (co-sleeping), breastfeeding, baby-led weaning, being a "lazy" parent, and many of us turned out to be devoted sling wearers!

Some of the more challenging elements turned out to be feeling that others may be judging us (whether that was real or percieved), co-sleeping (again!) and coping with family pressures.

We also discussed what we would like to look at in future meetings - and here are some of the topics coming soon (in no particular order):

Co-sleeping
Socialising
Gentle discipline
Vacinations
Sharing "best practise"/toolkits
Food
Schooling
Travelling and being "Out and About"

All followed by a slap-up picnic by the water park in Boscombe Gardens, where at least one child was far more interested in getting wet than eating, and a quick trip to the beach!

Feel free to leave comments if you were at the meeting and remember stuff that I've forgotten, or if you weren't (or even if you were) there and would like to add a future topic.

Hope to see everyone again at the next meeting, which will be on Tuesday 10th May, 10am - 12pm

Wednesday 30 March 2011

The Thorny Subject of Money.....

In an ideal world, we wouldn't be charging.....it would be lovely to run this group as a free co-operative....

Unfortunately, we have to hire the venue (albeit on very favourable terms), and we'd like to be able to fund resources such as slings, nappies and books for our libraries in the future, so we have decided that we do need to ask for a donation each meeting.

We have set the donation at £1 per family, payable ONLY if you are able to do so. We don't want anyone to feel that they can't attend a meeting because they don't have the cash. No-one will be chasing you for money - there will be a small pot for your donation, but only you will know whether you have paid. If you have more, feel free to give more - if you haven't got it, don't worry about it - ever!

We have already had a donation towards the group which will more than cover the first meeting, so it looks as though the system works already!

Obviously, we will periodically review this, and take a consensus, but for the time being, we hope this is acceptable to everyone!

Sunday 20 March 2011

First meeting coming soon ...

The date is set and the excitement is mounting! Our first meeting will be on Tuesday 12 April 2011. Bournemouth Reform Synagogue is a short walk either from the Bournemouth train station or from the Boscombe bus station and there are a number of buses that go along Christchurch Road. Please email BournemouthAPs@gmail.com for more information. Come along to this first meeting and be a part of shaping our fledgling group's future. We're looking forward to seeing you there.