Healthy parents lead to healthy families. Not just physical health but emotional health too. However “going it alone” with even just one child, let alone multiple children, doesn’t lend itself to positive mental health – no matter what Social Media says. Oftentimes parents feel stressed, overworked, judged, and inadequate. Burnout and exhaustion are real, but without a community around to validate those feelings, many moms and dads feel like that pain is unique to them.

Another loss with the disappearance of community living is the dearth of shared resources among families. From small things like meal swaps to larger benefits such as having a trusted friend to leave your children with, parents and children are missing out on experiences that lift us up and expose us to different ways of living and engaging with the world.