Interest for a new parental group is being gauged in Kosciusko County.
Mini Mischief Managed (MMM) is organizing Parental Playtime, the new group. MMM is a group for caregivers of young children in Kosciusko County that helps caregivers learn about age-appropriate activities and community resources that are available to parents, according to the website https://minimischiefmanaged.com/.
The idea behind creating Parental Playtime is to make “another parents group that is more inclusive than what our community currently offers,” said Kelly Mager, founder of Mini Mischief Managed.
Right now, there are several mom groups that are hosted by various churches in Kosciusko County.
“After COVID hit and everything, most of those groups withdrew back within their communities, so they’re not as open as they used to be,” she said. “And they also represent a fraction of the parents that live within our area, so we, Mini Mischief Managed, is gauging interest in creating a more inclusive option.”
There would be no religious affiliation or programming. All the parents groups currently out there have some component that is religious, she said. The reason why there won’t be religious component to the group is because “there’s some people within our community that are not affiliated with Christianity, and even though some of the churches are open and respectful of those beliefs, it doesn’t mean those parents are comfortable in those settings. And by removing that possible objection, we hope people will feel open to join.”
Parental Playtime will create events or activities, such play dates, crafts or parent socializing without the children at some of the events.
“We want to see if there an interest in the community for something like this and then we’re going to form events based on the people who want to join,” she said.
Mager said on the Mini Mischief Managed website, there is a link for Parental Playtime and anyone who is interested in joining the group can request access to the group. Once the group has enough interested people to form the group, everyone in the group will be notified and go from there.
Mager said the creation of the group has been slow in the last month or so and has about 11 or 12 current registered members. She said the group wants a couple more members before planning events, hoping for 15 or 20 people to get started.
The group is aimed for parents, both moms and dads, who either live or work in Kosciusko County, but if someone outside of the county wants to join, “we would be open to that.”
There is no age range for children, but she did say, based on a scheduling standpoint, the group will probably skew a little more toward parents who have younger children, probably in the age range of birth to 5.
“Anyone who wants to connect is welcome,” Mager said.
Mager said by joining the group, she hopes parents feel more connected within the community and more supported on their parenting journey.
