I would never in a million years ever would have thought I would have ever become a PTFA Mum.

Nothing against PTFA mums, but it was something I never imagined myself getting involved in when I first started out in parenthood. In all honesty though its actually quite fulfilling and satisfying. Its great to watch ideas grow and evolve, and pennies roll in, and see said pennies being used to provide things for the children of your school.

Our PTFA raises money to assist with the end of year school trip. Its quite a lot of money to pay out, especially if you have more than one child in the school, and we arent in the most financially privilaged area either, so money gets tight. We try to make it a little easier on the Mums and Dads, in a way spreading the cost through the year with various raffles, bingo nights and school discos. So EVERY child can take part in the end of year trip.

I know sometimes it seems like they are asking for more money for this and more money for that. Try and pop into your PTFA meeting one time and try to find out exactly what they are raising funds for. It could be lighting for the school stage, or to provide instruments for the whole school, or even a fabulous adventure playground for the children to play on.

Take a friend with you if you are worried about cliques, to be honest, yeah you will probably find its the same parents that turn up to the PTFA meetings that turn up to everything else in school, and they all know each other really well, but they are nice people if you try to get to know them. So go on, pop along, have a giggle and even make a few new friends. You could be the person that has the fantastic fresh new idea.

So go on, be brave. Go be a PTFA Mum and help out