Parents' Village
A community for new parents to share support
POSTPARTUMPREGNANCYBERLIN
"It takes a village to raise a child", and in the big city of Berlin many parents, often without extended family or a support network ready for babies here, find it difficult to see this sentence in reality.
As a project of my own pregnancy in 2026, I am inviting new and expert parents to join a voluntary community of mutual support. Have you heard of Supermamas? This wonderful organisation is unfortunately no longer active in Berlin. But why can we not create together something similar?
The idea is:
you, "new" parent in pregnancy or in the first three months after giving birth, register; OR
you, "helping" parent with a baby who is a little older, register;
when the baby of a "new" parent is born, we notify "helping" parents in the neighbourhood and look for a match: some parents around who have a little time to give right now, and who are comfortable in the same language (German, English, ...);
the "helping" parent(s) get in touch with the new parent(s): they set up a time to meet, and come over with some homemade food, or just some time to listen and share with the "new" parents - it could be the first of a few meetings.
Maybe sometimes this is going to look a little different. Maybe the two families who meet both already have a baby of a similar age and find ways to connect and support each other. Maybe some parents in pregnancy join to support with their time even before they receive help.
***Please note*** I am starting this volunteer project at a time when I know I cannot be working efficiently in a few months, as I am expecting a baby myself. I will need a community to support this project. If you have some time for this, please email me at marta@every-body.berlin and let's talk about how we can collaborate.
We will test how this goes in 2026-2027, and see whether it can be extended more long-term under the cover of local institutions, such as Familienzentren, or what are other ways to run it sustainably. Realistically, I only have capacity to start this as a test for families living around the Familienzentrum Kiezoase in Schöneberg, or that I already know from my yoga courses or groups. If this is not your case, please send me an email at marta@every-body.berlin and we'll try and see together what else is possible.
