Vancouver’s growing community and essential resource hub for new moms

, starting daycare comes with an extra thing to add to your already packed mental load… the surprising amount of stuff they seem to need. Suddenly your tiny human needs rain gear, indoor shoes, a lunch system, approximately 47 labels and enough spare clothes to survive a minor flood (or at least, multiple ‘accidents’).

The good news? We've rounded up our favourite daycare essentials, to give you one less thing to worry about.

And understandably, it's resonating hard right now. But here's the thing: the aesthetic isn't really the point. The real gift buried in that trend is permission - permission to say a big F-U to the pressure of doing All The Things this summer. The bucket list. The road trip. The five festivals. The perfectly documented "best summer ever." Because if we try to do all that, we’ll end up burnt out and needing a holiday by the time summer is done. So how can we take what we need from this, and leave what we don’t?

If you're on Instagram, you've probably seen the "How to have the perfect 90's summer" posts everywhere. Grainy home videos. Kids running through sprinklers. Melting freezies. Dirty feet and beach towels. Bikes left on front lawns. Ice cream after dinner. Long evenings with nowhere to be. I mean, doesn’t that all sound lovely?

And understandably, it's resonating hard right now. But here's the thing: the aesthetic isn't really the point. The real gift buried in that trend is permission - permission to say a big F-U to the pressure of doing All The Things this summer. The bucket list. The road trip. The five festivals. The perfectly documented "best summer ever." Because if we try to do all that, we’ll end up burnt out and needing a holiday by the time summer is done. So how can we take what we need from this, and leave what we don’t?

Partners & support people are the closest witnesses to the emotional, physical, and identity shifts happening during matrescence, yet many say they feel unsure of what’s normal, what’s needed, or how to help. And from the birthing parent/moms’ point of view, even when we’re in the thick of it, it’s hard to explain to our people what we’re going through and how they can help. But, when partners learn a little more about what’s going on during the postpartum phase, and what matrescence actually is, support becomes more intentional, communication gets easier, and the whole family benefits. So this one is something to share with the partners…

Postpartum mental health challenges do not always look the way we expect, and they can affect anyone, regardless of how together things appear on the outside. Feeling this way does not mean you are weak or failing. It means you are human, navigating one of life’s most profound transitions. Support can make a meaningful difference.