Today, I am hosting the first space for parents of 2025. With me, I have the book The Blessing of a Skinned Knee. Not because I plan to use it today, but because it was the book that began thisjourney nearly 20 years ago. Back then, as I was doing my best to raise my young children, I read many parenting books. They all made sense in theory and seemed so simple, yet at times, they felt nearly impossible to put into practice.
I knew I wasn’t alone. My instincts told me that parenting would be easier if I navigated this journey with a group of friends. Without even realizing it, I started creating what I now call my parent village. Looking back, I see how that was exactly the way we are meant to parent—together. I began my first parenting book club in my home in Presidential with a group of moms who were figuring it out alongside me.
This winter break, I picked up a copy of The Atlantic at the airport. The cover story was “The Anti-Social Century,” and it touched on Mark J. Dunkelman’s concept of a “village.” He describes it as the middle ring of “familiar but not intimate” relationships—the people who live around us: our neighbors, fellow parents, and the people in our town. Dunkelman explains, “We used to know them well; now we don’t.” He argues that the middle ring is key to social cohesion:
“Families teach us love. Tribes teach us loyalty. The village teaches us tolerance.”
The village is that middle circle of relationships that lies between our closest family and professional networks. It’s not the people we confide in most deeply or those we collaborate with at work—it’s the neighbors, acquaintances, and fellow par
ents who form the fabric of our everyday lives. Dunkelman warns that as we lose this village, we also lose a crucial support system—a space where empathy, shared responsibility, and connection can thrive. Without it, we risk isolation, polarization, and the overwhelming feeling that we’re navigating life’s challenges alone.
Today, I sit with a new group of parents of young children, starting a new year together. My intention is to facilitate a space where they can support one another on this journey.
My hope is that this space becomes a middle circle for them—a place where they can lean on one another, share their stories, and remind each other that they are not alone in the joys and challenges of parenting.
