Carolyn Paik wanted to get to know her neighbors and to tell them about the Baha'i Faith – no easy task, as “neighbors” in her rural southeastern Wisconsin community live miles apart.

So the former preschool teacher put on her thinking cap and came up with the idea of offering a children’s playgroup, where families could mingle. She reasoned that playgroups weren’t exactly plentiful in Delafield Township, where she and her husband, Mike, both lifelong Baha’is, had raised a family and still reside.


Carolyn Paik and children in her playgroup To publicize the playgroup, Ms. Paik sent her neighbors flyers and attached a personal invitation explaining she was a grandmother who loved children and wholeheartedly believed in this quote from the Universal House of Justice, the international governing body of the Baha'i Faith: “Children are the most precious treasure. They bear the seeds of the character of a future society.”

Ms. Paik ended her note by saying, “It is my hope that the time we spend together will help our children gain a sense of community and know they are most honored and cherished.” Her efforts were successful: Two weeks later she had five enrollments.

To expand the playgroup, her daughter-in-law handed out flyers during story hour at the local library. Then both women paid visits to new neighbors with children.

That was three years ago. Through word of mouth, the playgroup now has 15 children, who range from 18 months to seven years old. Ms. Paik says she’s still amazed at how appreciative parents are for the playgroup.

“At the beginning,” she says, “I had one mom who came in and started crying. She said she had been living in the area for years and had never experienced anything like this: the opportunity to get to know people, and to know them at a really deep level.”

Other parents asked, “Why are you doing this?” Ms. Paik answered: “‘In the Baha'i Faith, we’re taught that community and children are very important.’ That made the parents feel comfortable about talking about their own values and beliefs.”


Ms. Paik views the playgroup as a community-builder: While the kids huddle in a tent to listen to a story, create a craft in the art room (formerly a spare bedroom), make music, dance or go on a nature walk, their parents join in or chat in another room in the Paik home.

Their conversations run the gamut. Thanks to Ms. Paik, instilling virtues in their children is high on the list.

“We’ve all seen the progress the kids have made in this area,” Ms. Paik says. “Schools teach the children to be polite and compassionate, but learning to be virtuous is immersed in the playgroup’s curriculum. And it shows.

“These are kids you’d love to be around – sweet and thoughtful,” Ms. Paik says. “What’s nice is that the parents reinforce it at home. The playgroup brings a special spirit to the whole area.”

A number of playgroup parents have become so enamored of Ms. Paik’s incorporating virtues and other tenets of the Baha'i Faith into the playgroup that they’ve joined a study circle and devotional programs coordinated by Ms. Paik and her family: husband Mike; daughter Shelley and her husband, Jamal Black; and son David and his wife, Mitra.

If the success of her playgroup is any indication, Ms. Paik says the 50 or so Baha’is in the Wisconsin Lake Country Area can look forward to seeing their numbers grow.