Do you follow your child around at Playgroup?

On a Tuesday morning I take Beanie Boy to a playgroup which I have been attending since Little Bean was a toddler. Obviously when then were both just starting to toddle I would follow them around and keep them entertained but once they were steady on their feet I tended to let them just get on with it and socialist with the other children. I see Playgroup as a time for them to interact with other children and begin to build their independence. I play games and toys with them at home all the time, I don’t see that following them around at Playgroup is going to help them to develop by themselves but today something happened and some of the looks I received from other parents made me wonder if I was in the wrong.

I would like to point out that I don’t just grab a cup of tea and sit in a corner constantly talking to other Mums, I wander around, rarely sit down and keep an eye on him from a distance. Today for the one moment that I sat down and was talking to another Mum her face suddenly turned to despair and she dived from her seat as Beanie Boy fell backwards from a cube slide onto hard tiled floor. He landed on the back of his head and his back and was naturally extremely upset. I immediately picked him up and cuddled him and felt like the worst mother in the world for not being there to catch him. To our luck, he had no bump on his head, no marks on his back and after a quick cuddle he returned to playing very happily with his friends again but I continued to feel terrible. Perhaps I am wrong, maybe I should have been following him around and stood behind him when he climbed the slide? He is a totally fearless little boy and will climb on anything that he can, I don’t want to instil fear in him but of course I really don’t want him to get hurt either. What do you think?