Rants in the Park encourages mums
If it wasn’t for Rants in the Park, Hana Cummings doesn’t know what state her mental health would be in.
The 33-year-old mum, said the group, run by parenting support group Flourish in New Plymouth, had been invaluable to her.
“That encouragement to turn up, you’re welcome in any state, there are other women to support you and we help out with each others kids.
“It’s building that community where you feel like you’re seen and you matter.”
Cummings had attended Rants in the Park for nearly two years with her toddler Marlon. She called herself “one of the OGS”, and said the most common rant among mums was lack of sleep.
Mums and their prams, front backs, backpacks, and balance bikes turn up every Monday to walk through Pukekura Park and rant about the perks and pitfalls of motherhood.
The group can range from three people to 25.
Each walk starts with Carla Moore or Katy Quest, the founders of Flourish Taranaki, checking in with the mums to see where they’re at.
The scale ranges from 1 to 5, with 1 being amazing and 5 being terrible.
“One day you’re a 5 and the next time you’re a 1 and that’s parenting for you,” Moore said.
“I know how amazing it is when you have friends when you’re parenting. Parenting by yourself should never be a thing.”
After each walk the group come back to Flourish, upstairs at the New Plymouth Raceway above the Taranaki Bulls gym, for coffee.
Moore said there were many people who don’t have friends or family around when parenting so Flourish aimed to be that village for people.
That is exactly what it’s been for Ina Kilicaslan.
“It’s been a great way to meet likeminded mums, it’s a very vulnerable, honest space.
“If you’re having a hard time as a new mother, which I did, it’s a space where mums talk openly about it, there’s no sugar coating.”
For mum-of-two Anita Kirby, the group was a great way to get out of the house and break up the week.
She’d found other mums groups were not quite right for her. “My family have found it quite hard going along to playgroups as my kids are quite boisterous and rough and confrontational — they’re not easy children and so it’s hard to relate and connect to other parents when you don’t have smooth sailing children.
“Getting out in the bush took the walls away and parents who choose to go out into the bush also have children who bounce off the walls. They’re much more understanding when your kids get it wrong.“
Kirby said with both kids in the pram or one in the buggy and one in a front pack, it allowed her to have a proper conversation with other parents.
She found other groups focused purely on the baby whereas Rants in the Park was about making sure mum was OK.
For Brye Waterman, the group had been her saviour.
Apart from one week when her son Arlo was sick, she’s never missed it. “It’s my saviour, everyone is so welcoming and it’s my little hidden gem. Every mama needs it.”
Rants in the Park leaves every Monday from outside Flourish Taranaki at 9.30am. No booking is required.