Karleen is savouring her second bite of Playcentre life, after having a break away to concentrate on settling her family into a new house, suburb and school. Prebbleton Playcentre welcomed her with open arms. After just a couple of terms she was asked to step up as President of her Playcentre . We find her beaming as she says hello to each and every family as they arrive to play; she radiates warmth and it’s easy to see she is a lady who has a real sense of purpose in this community.
What would you say has been your biggest obstacle as a parent?
I think it’s the juggle of trying to keep your family happy, with everything else you are trying to do. When you don’t have children or a family, you just do what you want to do. So that not being able to do what you want to do when you want to do it; I found that really hard for the first year. But, all of a sudden you get more from having a family and children, ‘cause you can do more, you just don’t realise until you’re doing it.
“What made you return to Playcentre for a second time?”
“Community. Needing friends and support for raising your children. And fun. I needed some friends, Lena needed some friends, we were new to Templeton, so we had to create a new village. We tried Kindy, but it just didn’t work for Lena, she’s a mummy’s girl; I was leaving her crying everyday. Now she gets up and she’s like ‘ I want to go to Playcentre… I love Playcentre… are my friends coming’?”