Dear Community,
We are very pleased to share that we will be starting the Parents’ Nook at Randall Museum from September 2024 onwards as a pilot project. It would be a once-a-week offering, to start with.
Many of you might not know what a Parents’ Nook is. We would love to share it with you all.
Before the Pandemic we had Nooks at a cafe in Outer Richmond. That's where we started Nooks formally. They have a beautiful garden in their backyard where we used to work on the play spaces for children. We started very small and worked with the cafe owner, parents, and children until before the pandemic. This was in a very special neighborhood and parents would love to come and spend time coworking from there, working on their projects, and having a tiny bit of socialization. We observed friendships blooming and trust among the participants.
We started Nooks at various cafes, coworking spaces, community centers, and Museums all across the Bay Area after this. The pandemic happened and our work had to stop. It was more than 100 Nooks all across the Bay Area.
After the pandemic, we piloted Nooks at OMCA in the summer of 2022 and 2023 and since April 2024 we have started Nooks once a week at OMCA. And we got great reviews from parents who attended Nooks there. After working for a few years with the Museum, we restarted Nooks @OMCA from this Spring onwards once a week.
Once we started Nooks @OMCA we got a few requests for Nooks from a few other places all across the Bay Area. Being a small team we are always stretched, so we thought maybe we could be back in SF.
We started working at Randall Museum long back and finally, we got a yes to start a pilot Nook there from this September onwards.
If you are our newsletter subscriber, you might already know what a Nook is. And why a Museum?
As we mentioned earlier, we created Parents’ Nook to serve our own needs as parents. As we started getting deeper into the project, we started figuring out that there is a big gap in the childcare sector, it's not addressing properly the changing environment that we are facing as parents and children.
Parents’ Nook is our way to address this problem, a lot of learning, and support from mentors, parents, children, and believers makes us who we are. We don’t know yet if we will be able to solve it, but we know for sure the problem exists.
Through Parents’ Nook, we are creating neighborhood spaces where parents can work/socialize/have time to themselves/finish up their projects while their children play open-ended under the observance of facilitators in a nearby space. Randall Museum offers a combination of kids galleries, open spaces, and indoor spaces thus making it an ideal space for Nooks to happen.
We are creating spaces in neighborhoods while collaborating with already available beautiful spaces that are good for children and their families.
Introducing a Coworking Fee:
Instead of a membership fee, we are asking parents to pay a coworking fee of 10-12 USD per family that goes directly to the Museum. Since the Museum is a non-profit, instead of a membership fee we are requesting you pay a minimal amount to the hosts, cash or check.
Parents’ Nook @ Randall Museum
We are very excited to offer Nooks @Randall Museum. We think it would be a fantastic space for parents and children to gather. We are thankful to the parents, caregivers, and the Museum staff for believing in our project.
What we are offering:
- Community co-working spaces from the Museum’s Josephine Cafe or on their terrace or any space you feel comfortable.
- Access to Nook facilitated play space with local facilitators oriented by our Play Team.
- Shared Phone/Meeting Space
- Fast internet
- Mothers’ Corner by Parents' Nook on request.
- Your very own parent community to co-work with who are all-purpose aligned.
- Access to a clean bathroom/changing station.
- Your very own local online community of parents, educators, and space collaborators to co-inspire and talk about everything parenting.
Quick Housekeeping Facts:
- If you are using the café, we would request that you buy some items from them. It can be as little as coffee or tea.
- We are considering a combination of indoor and outdoor locations for hosting Nooks to ensure a reliable experience in any weather condition. This change is meant to improve flexibility and the overall experience for families.
- We value your thoughts on this approach, so please share any insights you have. To enhance the children's experience, we plan to establish a routine that involves walking to the museum toddler play space. We will provide more information about this to help establish a consistent rhythm. This routine will include approximately 40 minutes of indoor play time and will aim to strike a balance between indoor and outdoor activities.
- To streamline communication and reduce noise, we have decided to activate feedback groups exclusively for parents who register for Nooks. Participation in these groups will be by invitation only after you have registered to attend a Nook. We eagerly anticipate welcoming you to the Randall Museum.
To make Nooks intentional we will start with a group of 7-8 families, starting from 12th September onwards, if you are interested in participating, we are creating a waiting list here
