Why Intentional Gathering Matters—Especially for New Mums
When you’re deep in the early days of motherhood, getting out of the house can be a major achievement. Nappies, wipes, bottles, breast-pads, snacks… a baby who’s just had the explosive poo, right up the back of their onesie. Sometimes, meeting up with others can feel more like survival than connection.
But what if gathering wasn’t just about getting out or filling time. What if it could actually nourish you?
At Gathered, we believe in the power of intentional gathering, something author Priya Parker explores so brilliantly in her book The Art of Gathering. And for new mums, it can be completely transformative.
What is intentional gathering?
Priya Parker defines intentional gathering as coming together with purpose. It's not about perfection, it's about creating space that meets a real need, with thought and care.
It’s easy to think that “any get-together is better than none,” but when you’ve just had a baby, your time, energy and emotional state are precious. You don’t need a room where you feel like you have to perform and pretend everything is okay when it’s not, or pretend to be hating it when actually you’ve never been happier. You need space to just be however you are that day: to be seen, heard, and understood.
Why new mums need more than just coffee and small talk
When you’re adjusting to motherhood, you might find yourself surrounded by baby-centric activities: sensory classes, rhyme time, or quick chats in passing. These are all brilliant, and we highly recommend many of the wonderful local options (see our other blog posts!). That said, it can still be hard sometime to bridge the gap between shared baby activity, and real friendship with other mums.
Why?
Because we crave deeper connection. We need conversations that intentionally support us to move beyond the small talk. We want to talk about identity, change, emotions, and what it really feels like to become a parent.
What does this look like at Gathered?
At Gathered, our weekly conversation circles are built around this intentionality to connect mums at a more fundamental level. This looks like:
🤝 A trained mum-facilitator to hold the space gently
💬 Carefully planned themes & topics to guide the conversation (like identity, expectations, relationships)
👶 A baby-welcoming setup where you can feed, change & comfort your baby, however works for you both
💛 A structure that helps you share what is going on for you this week, as well as go deeper than “how’s the baby sleeping?”
It’s a space where you can exhale. Laugh. Cry. Be quiet. Be real.
And it’s not just the talking that matters, it’s the listening, too. There’s something powerful about hearing your own experience mirrored in someone else’s words. You realise you’re not alone. You realise you’re not doing it wrong. You realise parenting is A LOT. And you’re actually doing alright at it, after all.
How gathering becomes community
Intentional gatherings don’t just leave you with a schedule for your week, they leave you with connection. It’s not an instant thing, but a relationship with a facilitator and a group that grows with continuity and repetition. Over time, these moments stitch together into friendship, belonging, and confidence. You show up for each other. You carry each other through.
And for many of us, that’s the village we’ve been missing.
Final thoughts
The Art of Gathering reminds us that it’s not just about bringing people together—it’s about why we gather, and how we hold that space.
New mums don’t only need activities to fill our terrifyingly empty weeks. We need spaces where we can feel like ourselves again, even if we’re still figuring out who that is. So if you’re looking for a place to be known and appreciated, just as you are, we would love for you to come to a Gathered conversation circle. You are so welcome.