Our Parent Teacher Group pays the Girl Scouts $20.00 at each meeting to entertain the children. The Girl Scouts bring their own games, a small snack and the kids really enjoy it. Mother's of the Girl Scouts take turns supervising. This is a great way to help the Girl Scouts pay for their camps and fun stuff and lets our parents focus on the meeting. It works for us.
We also provide daycare at our PTO meetings. You have to check with your school, district and city laws tho. Depending on the number of kids you have, you may require more than one person for daycare. These days alot of people are just looking for a reason to sue and make some money. If I child were to get injured, the PTO or the school could get sued.
It's a great idea to provide daycare because in some instances, you may have parents who can't/don't attend for that reason. If you decide to provide daycare, make sure you let all the parents know and hopefully you can get a few more of them to turn out.
Good Luck
Jeff This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
We meet 3rd Thursday of the month as well and meet either in the lunch room or teacher lounge depending on number of people attending. We are also very informal.
We used to offer sitting services, but we only had a couple parents bringing kids so we quit. More recently, we've had closer to 10 kids at a meeting, but they just play, color etc.
We meet the third Thursday evening at 6:30. Everyone bring their kids. We meet in the library and our meetings only last about 45 minutes to 1 hour. The kids do homework or play in the area right outside the library. Our meetings are also very informal.
I appreciate all the input. I just wish I would hav found this site earlier in the year!!You've all been so nice and have great ideas/suggestions!
Thanks!