Mama Says

In our July issue, we featured several interesting websites and asked our readers to share their favorites. We got a few responses and so here are three great websites to check out.

Cleveland Kids is full of information and activities for us Cleveland moms. There are many sections including information and activities for homeschooling, camps, music, and loads of other activities. I was especially interested in the “Freebies” section and managed to sign up for a free potty-training kit from Charmin toilet paper. Also listed under freebies was the Cleveland Boomerang School which holds sessions on Sundays from 11:00 - 12:00 at Wade Park Oval. Who knew that Cleveland had a boomerang school? Pretty neat stuff. I did find the site a bit difficult to navigate as the home page didn’t list each of the web site sections. I did use the search engine within the site and found lots of information as well as links to additional sites. Thanks to Roseanne Maloney for the tip on this site.

Carolyn Mercer plugged us into the West Park Early Childhood PTA website. This website includes information about upcoming activities for their PTA (Mama Says readers are welcome to join) along with links, activities and destinations for preschool kids. This is a user friendly website with lots of good stuff.

Mama Says reader Denise Link forwarded the link to her favorite working mom website. Who can’t use some extra advice on balancing work and family? This website is a more commercial and professional site and has sections on family, career, money, health, food travel, community and seminars. You can also subscribe to their bi-weekly newsletters. They also promise not to clutter up your email with lots of messages.

If you know of a great website that you would like to share and profile in a future issue, please email me at kperkowski@ameritech.net.

Happy Surfing!

Mama Says has also heard from several readers who would like to extend the joys of play group to parents and children whose schedules may keep them from attending on a weekday morning. So here’s what we’re going to do:

In the month of September, Play Group II will meet at Fairview Park (West 38th between Franklin & Woodbine) on Friday afternoons between 4 and 6 p.m.:

It will be BYOS (bring your own snack). You might also want to bring a toy like a ball, a kite, sidewalk chalk, etc. All ages of children will be welcome, although it will be of special interest to the afterschool crowd, of course. In the event of bad weather on any of those dates, the rain location will be the home of John and Laura Fratus, 1797 West 31 Place. A note regarding the location change will be posted on the park information board near the tot lot by 4 p.m.

We’ll give this a try for this month, and if there’s adequate interest, we’ll try to get a plan in place to continue it throughout the winter.

So you’re at home during the week with a small child. And you’re wondering, “What do the other parents do to bring some variety, some adult interaction, and some socialization opportunities to their time with their children?” Play group is the answer!

Play group has never had any more clever or creative name; it’s just play group. It was founded in early 1997 by several families whose main characteristics in common were that they all had small children and they all had one parent at home at least part of the week. Although moms have historically made up a large portion of the regular attendees, we’ve also had a decent share of dads.

Now play group is at a stage where many of the original children are moving on to school, so we’re looking for new families interested in hosting play dates. In the past, we’ve had enough active families that no one had to host more than once every two months. Because of preschool schedules, the most popular day and time for play dates has been Friday mornings from 10 a.m. - noon, but hosts are free to choose other times. A host’s duties are limited to providing a simple snack and a place to play. We’ve also had members who could not host in their home because of space considerations, but have provided snacks for play dates at other locations, such as playgrounds.

Coordinator Diane Lechner (216/651-1990) has hosts scheduled for three weeks out of four in September.

9/6 Diane Lechner
9/13 Rachelle Coyne
9/27 Joy Harlor

For a play group directory, to volunteer to host an upcoming play date, or for more information, call Diane at the number above.

More than 100 vendors will peddle their wares. Musicians will play. Children will frolic. Neighbors will gossip over delicious snacks. And then summer will be officially over.

So don’t miss it. The Tremont Arts & Cultural Festival will be held on Saturday, September 21, from 11 a.m. - 7 p.m., and on Sunday, September 22, from noon to 6 p.m. The festival will be preceded by a juried art show at Kelly Randall Gallery on Friday the 21st from 7 - 10 p.m. After the festival - from 8 - 9:30 p.m. on Sunday - Friends of Lincoln Park and Ward 13 Green will sponsor a performance by Ohio’s first samba school, Aquarela Do Mundo.

For more information, call Scott at Tremont West Development
Corporation: 216/575-0920.

Next Sunday, September 8, from noon to 5 p.m., the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland and Traditionals Lowrider Car Club will sponsor a car show to benefit members of the Latino community living with HIV/AIDS. The show will feature lowrider cars and motorcycles, hotrods, and an afternoon of activities for kids.

The show will take place in the parking lot of Zone Recreation Center, at West 65th and Lorain Avenue. Call Judy Prince at 216/621-0766 for details.