I finally went to a Mummy and Me gathering at the local Baptist church around the corner. We usually have activities to do on Wednesdays, but with the encouragement of a neighbourhood mum I chat with, we went. She’s a really nice lady with a 17 month old who just adores my kid. She is probably bored stiff. Sometimes we walk together with our kids. Now I knew about this place for some time, but it being held in a church, I was a little reticent to go. After all, my husband is a atheist, I’m a Buddhist and the kid is not baptized. Doomed to hell, right? Of course, the sign out front didn’t see it was a Christian mummy and me group and it could have been a non-denominational group using church space. Anyways, I told her we’d meet her there to see what it was like.
We were welcomed very warmly by everyone, that was so nice. It was a small group of mothers and nannies (this being a nanny type of neighbourhood); one 3 year old asked me if I was “taking care” of my kid. Cute. We decorated an Easter gift bag; I noted how expensive the trimmings were. Oooh, sparkly stickly flowers, and slick bunny bags. Oooh, fancy stuff. I did not use the God stickers. Then off to wash our hands for snack time and lo and behold, they had provided free snacks for the kids. And right before serving them, there was a gratitude prayer with an amen. Okay, no problem, nothing wrong with an amen. Goldfish crackers, dried cherries, cheerios, and Easter cupcakes. I always carry healthy snacks with me but of course, my kid was so excited to have goldfish crackers at 10:30 in the morning. I cut him half of the cupcake (just to be social) cause the last thing he needs is that much sugar without a decent lunch. Luckily, my kid is not that crazy about sugary snacks, he actually prefers fruit. I was kinda hoping he’d leave it for me, but alas, he ate it. Bugger.
After snack time, it’s story time and song time! A cute little finger puppet song that told of 4 cute little monkeys being eaten by an alligator. No survivors! Lovely little ditty. I had spotted a Bible stories book being toted around by one of the ladies and yes, guess which story the kids were read? “Jesus was put on a a cross and then he died”. Omilowercaseg. Accurate and to the point. I was kind of hoping for a story about a little blue bird demonstrating friendship and harmony, but no. Luckily, my kid was too distracted with playing around and not old enough to ask me what it all meant. The 3 year old girl interjected with a story of her own about a rocket ship. I smiled but I was truly uncomfortable.
Back when I was still a churchgoer, meaning I went twice a year – at Easter and Christmas, I quite enjoyed the Easter story because Jesus came back and it was the women he spoke to first. Apparently, the kids weren’t going to get the what happened next until they came back next week though. We skipped the bowl of chocolate Easter eggs on our way out.
I don’t plan on returning any time soon. They were very lovely women and it was nice meeting everyone, but it’s not for us. We have enough activities to do. It’s funny, I remember going to Sunday school with an Easter basket and really nice clothes on. I really don’t remember anything other than playing so I suppose the Precious will remember the goldfish crackers.
A Woman My Age 