BACK TO SCHOOL

From left: Wendy
Flusty and son Brent;
Susan Dovitz and
daughter, Melanie;
Stacy Wallach and
daughter Shelby; Inez
Garfield Turner and
son Steve.

Play k Again' Mom.

Local playgroups with adults and children offer
camaraderie and support for all.

DEBBIE WALLIS LANDAU

Special to The Jewish News

m

elanie Dovitz, Brent
Flusty, Kailey Good-
man, Steven Turner
and Shelby Wallach make a
tight fivesome. And it's no
wonder. For over two years,
they've been sharing bagels
and juice, taking their first
steps together and testing
each others' toys and home
territories every other
Wednesday morning.
No matter how much they
like each other, however, their
playgroup probably wouldn't
have endured this long if
their mothers weren't equal-
ly compatible.

52

FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1991

"To have a playgroup suc-
ceed," says Inez Garfield-
Turner, "the moms really
have to click."
Wendy Flusty agrees. "I
think what makes our group
special is our mutual commit-
ment to it. We consider our
get-togethers an important
activity that must be schedul-
ed like other priorities in our
lives. If we took it casually, it
wouldn't happen."
Susan Dovitz, Maxine
Goodman and Stacy Wallach,
Wendy Flusty and Inez
Garfield-Turner alternate
meetings at each member's
house bi-weekly. Mrs.
Garfield-Turner is jokingly
referred to as the "commuter"
— she lives in Southfield,

whereas her four buddies live
in the Farmington Hills area.
What the five mothers
share — besides 13 children
among them — is an open-
mindedness and willingness
to discuss experiences rather
than competitions.
"I'm a veteran of three play-
groups," laughs Maxine Good-
man, whose daughter Kailey
is 21/2. "I can honestly say
that in this group, we all feel
like we've developed a ge-
nuine circle of friends."
Wendy Flusty was the
newcomer and new mother
when she joined the group the
year Brent, 2 1/2, was born.
"Everyone else had at least
two kids by then. They in-
itiated me into motherhood!"

Like the other four women,
Mrs. Flusty had a career. She
was a media buyer and adver-
tising specialist for several
years. When her daughter,
Laura, now one, was born, she
made the commitment to sus-
pend working outside her
home till her kids were older.
Mrs. Dovitz and Mrs. Good-
Man are attorneys with a
part-time practice. Mrs.
Garfield-Turner owns a
business and Mrs. Wallach is
a sales representative.
Inez Garfield-Turner ex-
pects her fourth child in Oc-
tober, and Stacy Wallach
quips, "If we can, we'll all be
there when Inez goes into
labor!"
The women show support

for each other and their
children in other ways, too..
Each of the five mothers pit-
ches in and selects one nice
gift when one of the play-
group children has a birthday.
"We had another member
who moved out oftown," Mrs.
Flusty says. "To help her keep
in touch, we sent her a sub-
scription to The Jewish News
and Monthly Detroit." A gift
certificate for some pamper-
ing at a local spa is a gesture
the members might make
after the arrival of a new
baby.
It's certainly not a new
phenomenon that women
would extend the nurturing
roles unique to motherhood to
their own friendships.