The AAFSW Playgroup was founded in 1997 by a group of stay-at-home Foreign Service parents who had recently returned to the Washington, D.C. area. Since then, with the support of AAFSW, the playgroup has grown to include members from other foreign affairs agencies, in addition to the State Department.
The AAFSW Playgroup invites all moms and dads of preschoolers to join us when you’re in the DC area. We meet weekly, on weekday mornings, usually from 10am-noon at various parks or homes of members in the Falls Church/Vienna area. Several parks nearby have toys just waiting there for your little one to discover, most are fenced, and all have swings, sand boxes and new equipment.
Fun at the petting zoo in June, 2012.
Several recent members have found the group especially helpful because it put them in touch with other foreign service spouses who were just coming from or just going to a post they’d just come from or were going to. As we all know, the small-world stories are alive and well in the foreign service and our playgroup has birthed a few of its own!
We understand the concerns of traveling with small children or having babies abroad and we help with the whole “wrapping your brain around it” so you don’t feel so stressed. We’re here for whoever wants to meet a good friend who you can expect to cross paths with again. As a matter of course, those of us who are posted to DC also help newbies get oriented. Need a pediatrician, realtor, dentist or hairdresser? Just ask!
Foreign Service moms making friends.
For more information about the AAFSW playgroup email playgroup@aafsw.org. For more information about starting a playgroup in Maryland or the District of Columbia, email the AAFSW Main Office at office@aafsw.org.