crafting and creating a healthy, balanced, and beautiful life
FAQ’s
Meetings
The Carrollton Early Childhood PTA serves parents, grandparents, and caregivers for children from newborns to age 5. Anyone in the Carrollton and the surrounding area is welcome to join.
We have monthly meetings with informative speakers September through May, field trips, holiday parties, year-round weekly playgroups, Members’ Night Out/In activities, and Game Nights, in addition to many other programs including community service projects. Your yearly dues support our activities, speakers, and children’s programs.
Learning begins at birth, so we strive to provide a solid educational foundation by offering playgroups, fun activities, support, and learning opportunities for all of our members. We are part of the National PTA.
You can now join via mail or online. Visit our Join Now section for more information.
You can join any time of the year! Try a meeting and playgroup FREE before you join!
Keep in mind that we are all volunteers and, as much as we love the organization, we can’t always respond immediately. Give us a couple of days and if you have still not received a response, you can try our contact us and it will get sent to the appropriate person.
Our membership chair will process your application and send you a welcome email with information about your playgroup. She will add you to our google group email list and you’re now welcome to join our members-only FB group. Your playgroup coordinator will also add you to your specific playgroup google group and FB group (if applicable). You will get a welcome email from your coordinator with information about your group.
You’re ready! RSVP to the next playgroup, come out to meet fellow group members & don’t forget to signup to host a playdate. Keep an eye out for messages from our socials and party coordinators for CECPTA-wide events in addition to your playgroups.
No, attendance is not mandatory at any of our meetings. Lots of people join just for those very reasons, and many never attend a meeting.
This is a prevalent feeling among new members, and we want you to feel welcomed and befriended. Let us know that you are new when you arrive, and we’ll make sure to introduce you to a returning member who will show you around and make you feel right at home. Also, attending playgroups is a good way to get to know others with same-aged kids before you come to a meeting.
We welcome you to try your first meeting and playgroup FREE before you join!
Doors and nursery open at 9:30. First get your child checked into the nursery (reservations are strongly recommended to ensure there is enough space.) Then check in at the membership table and grab your name tag. You can also drop off any donation for that month’s community outreach opportunity, usually by the door. If you brought a potluck dish to share drop it off in the kitchen and fix yourself up a plate of other goodies fellow members brought to share. Find a seat, mingle with other members, and our guest speaker will start at 10. When it’s all done stack your chairs and pick up kids from the nursery by 11:30.
Nursery
Yes and no. Sitters are scheduled in advance to a specific children-to-sitter ratios based on their age. If you don’t make a reservation we cannot guarantee we will have a space available for your child.
Starting this year, the nursery is free for members or those attending for the first time. However, we still ask that you make a reservation for your child so we can ensure proper caregiver coverage.
Our sitters will try their best to distract and redirect an upset child, if they catch sight of you peeking through the window it might upset your child all over again. Please ask one of the nursery coordinators to check in on them. If the child can not be comforted and is excessively crying, the sitter will alert one of the coordinators and they will go into the meeting to let you know.
No, you must be present in the building while your child is in the care of our sitters. If you can’t make it please email cecptanursery@gmail.com and let our coordinators know as soon as possible that you need to cancel your spot.
Playgroups
We ask that everyone that participates in playgroups signup to host as well. It doesn’t have to be at your house, you can pick any public setting that is kid friendly (library, mall play areas, playground, etc.) Your group coordinator can even offer some suggestions.
Each child will have their own playgroup based on their birth date, but siblings are always welcome at each other’s playgroups. You can go to one or both in the same week, it’s your choice. Some members with multiple kids signup to host the same week in each of the playgroups they belong for a multi-group play date.
The playgroup coordinators are regularly assessing the preference in the availability of the majority of the group members. While the most popular day will be the “official” meetup day for the group, the person hosting that week is welcome to change the day that best fits their availability. We also encourage everyone to extend an invitation to their playgroup on any day even if they aren’t hosting that week.
It’s very unpredictable! One week it could be 20 and the next week could be 2. It’s fun to do multiple playgroup playdates because there will be a higher chance for a bigger turnout.