"Nobody asks the parents: 'What do you need right now?'"

Shortly after 2.00 pm, children and parents sit down on the floor in a circle. It is a large, open room with various seating and play areas dotted here and there. Renée Fretz welcomes around a dozen parents and children. Then the first group game begins. Children and parents, including a few fathers, walk round in a circle. When the music slows down, they have to grab a ball from the large basket in the middle and carry on walking – gradually collecting as many balls as they can.

Whilst the children play, the adults do something they often miss in their everyday lives: they meet other parents, share experiences and realise that their questions are not unusual.

The aim of the parents' forums is to create a safe space for parents. "Through the activities and simply being together, conversation arises, […] where parents sometimes stay a little longer to ask a question or request a one-to-one chat, " explains Dirk Falkenstein. In his previous professional experience, the graduate educator has encountered "intense" situations involving families – situations where things had already gone rather awry in the family's history. The idea of being able to carry out preventive work with parents led him to the parents' forums.