What Parents in Lansing Actually Need (But Aren’t Saying Out Loud)
Parents aren’t asking for too much, but something is missing.
I don’t think parents are asking for anything unreasonable. As a parent, I know I am not asking for to much. Just to be seen, understood, and accepted in a space.
But I do think a lot of what they need goes unspoken.
Not because it’s not important, but because it’s become normal to just deal with it.
Like walking into a coffee shop and immediately scanning the room, wondering if your child is going to be “too much” for the space.
Or realizing there’s nowhere to set your diaper bag, no changing table, no highchair or children’s seating, no space for your kid to move without you feeling like you need to apologize.
So you don’t stay long.
You grab your coffee, rush out, and tell yourself you’ll just try again another day.
And it’s not just coffee shops.
It’s a lot of places.
Places that technically allow kids, but weren’t actually designed with families in mind.
And over time, I think that does something to people.
It makes parents feel like they have to shrink their experience.
Like they have to choose between their needs and their child’s.
Like being out in the community comes with a level of stress it shouldn’t.
I’ve felt that. I’ve lived that. I’ve seen that.
And I know I’m not the only one.
That’s a big part of why I’m building the Red Cedar Play Café.
Not just to create a place for kids to play, but to create a place where parents don’t feel like they have to constantly manage how they’re being perceived. A place where the whole community is encouraged to come, take up space, and stay a while!!
A place where:
It’s normal for kids to move, explore, and be loud sometimes
It’s normal for caregivers to sit, breathe, and stay awhile
It’s normal to exist without feeling like you’re in the way
Because honestly, that shouldn’t be a luxury, it should be a given.
It should be the standard.
And maybe the reason more spaces like this don’t exist yet… is because people have just gotten used to doing without them.
But I don’t think we should have to.
If this resonates with you, you’re exactly who I’m building this for.