Six and a half years ago I had a baby boy here in Jeddah.  As he grew up I learned to be content with entertaining him at the only baby activity in town – the British Consulate’s ‘Mummy and Me’.  Every once in a while we‘d hit the mall with friends and go to a ‘non-baby proof’, ‘non-cleanly’ play area. On lucky days we’d be invited to someone’s compound and enjoy the park.

When my son was 3, we moved from Jeddah to Switzerland. This year I returned with a one-year-old baby daughter to find a plethora of activities and baby friendly centers.  The first I’d heard of and tried was ‘Mama et Moi’.  Started by Dima Halaby and her mother, Heind, they wanted to have a place that she and her daughters could play without her abbayya.  She wanted a clean, baby safe surroundings. She had experienced many activities like this outside like Gymboree and wanted to bring the same concept to her children and others here in Jeddah.  At ‘Mama et Moi’ mothers have an opportunity to sing and play with their children and watch them climb and jump without worrying about their safety in a clean and safe environment.  Not only are their classes for young crawlers, walkers or toddlers, there are also classes for all ages in both Arabic and English. The downstairs sandy playground is always entertaining and messy for the children.

Another fun, clean and friendly center is the ‘Enchanted Garden’ This center bloomed from a mummy and me group.  Claire AlKouatli and Yara Fayez were active in the mummy and me class and wanted to see it expanded.  Along with other relatives, who also had visions of opening a place where children could thrive and develop, they started a center. This was the seed of Enchanted Garden, the idea of combining international-standard developmental skills within an Islamic context for young children. Enchanted Garden encourages every child’s social, intellectual, physical and spiritual development through play, art, music, sports and spiritual activities. The house has spacious and friendly rooms as well as an exciting garden outside. Like Mama et Moi the classes also vary in age and language.

Another pleasant surprise to find was ‘My Library’.  A pleasant and quiet library to take little ones and older children to read and look at books, make crafts or just enjoy listening to a story. This was also started by moms who wanted a place for their children to enjoy books and stories in both English and Arabic.

So no longer are we forced to spend ‘quality time’ with our young ones at a mall or a café with help running around after them and others like them scattered all around the place. Thanks to concerned and motivated mothers we can laugh and play with our tots in clean, safe and friendly areas.