Becoming a parent is an amazing experience. But it can also be a lonely experience, especially if you are living far away from family or close friends. This often happens if you have relocated and are now living abroad, as a refugee or an expat. Despite your best efforts, conversing in the local language is often a challenge…baby brain isn’t much of a help here, either! And navigating parenthood in a country whose culture can feel very different from your own can be tough.
Thankfully, if you live in the Frankfurt / Taunus area, I can recommend several networks, groups and service providers who can make your life easier, happier, and help you find new friends to build your parenting village with here in Germany.
Places that offer courses and meet-ups for (new) mums and dads:
Familientreff Oberursel is a great place that offers a variety of classes and runs several groups and meet-ups for new parents. Most are in German, but there is an English-speaking baby & toddler “Krabbelgruppe” group that meets weekly and they sometimes host a breakfast for English-speaking parents. You can also hire their premises for birthday parties, etc.
A Mother’s Community (AMO) is a wonderful network of moms (and mums!) doing things for themselves as well as for their babes. Run by mum of two Alethya, there are numerous events and you are sure to find a date, time, place and event that is “your thing”!
The FamilienGesundheitsZentrum (FGZN) in Frankfurt, a family centre, sometimes runs ante-natal (Geburtsvorbereitung) and post-natal pelvic floor (Rückbildung) classes in English, as well as first aid courses for babys & children.
There is an English-speaking playgroup at Mukiva in Frankfurt-Bornheim.
The British Club of the Taunus and the American International Women’s Club have various networking opportunities for parents.
And – even though I am repeatedly told that Facebookers are a dying breed – there is a great resource in the form of the “ExpatBabies Frankfurt” group, where you can ask questions and find people from your area, from your country of origin, etc
If you want to try and connect with locals, you can search for “Krabbelturnen” or “Eltern-Kind-Turnen”, which is often offered by a local “Turnverein”, “Sportverein” or the like (sports club).
Popular mum & baby classes are “Fabel” and “Pekip”, but I would only recommend those if you speak at least some German.
If you are looking for language lessons, you can search for “Mama lernt Deutsch”, as some towns offer free courses for parents. The VHS (Volkshochschule – a sort of “community university”) also runs plenty of beginner German classes. They also run plenty of other courses if you have a hobby you would like to pursue or if you want to try to meet like-minded people via a shared interest. Otherwise, there are hundreds of private language schools, which are more expensive but often offer smaller classes, which can be beneficial if you are keen to progress quickly.
And here is a cheeky shout-out for the amazing English-speaking nursery / kindergarten (Kindertagesstätte, Krippe, Kindergarten) that I teach at:
Taunus International Montessori School (TIMS) in Oberursel is an English-speaking childcare provider for children aged 1-6 years. The Montessori concept teaches children how to be independent, “help them to do it themselves” being a key motto. Whilst the KiTa day is all in English, the children all have weekly German sessions (taught by yours truly) so they become able to communicate in the language of the country they are living in. There are, of course, many English-speaking and bilingual KiTas around, but as this is the one I have first-hand experience of, I have chosen to share it with you as I love the community feel of the place as well as the Montessori philosophy.