Parenting Avenue: What Denver Didn’t Know It Needed!

Parenting Avenue is on its way to becoming Denver’s premier new parent support and social group. Let’s take a look behind the curtain to learn more about the group that every new parent should join and its founder, Erin Floyd.

Erin is a hustler. But not in the way you might be thinking. She’s literally got hustle. While her 18-month-old naps, she’s hustling to run two small businesses by herself. Her first hat is that of a yoga instructor specializing in pre- and postnatal yoga. The second hat she wears is just the thing that Denver, Colorado needs—creator of Parenting Avenue, a new parent support and social group.

Erin is like a lot of new parents these days—she had her baby during a pandemic. The already isolating experience of having a brand new infant to care for became exponentially more isolating during lockdown. However, Erin was in Los Angeles with a community of young mothers she’d already been teaching, and a plethora of new parent support groups like The Pump Station & Nurtury, Mama Needs a Drink, The Wright Parent and Me, and L.A. Dads Group.

“I had a virtual group and an in-person group that met in the park every week. My husband had a group that met at a bar every other week, and we had a weekend group that we could go to together. We loved it! We feel like we are better parents and better partners because of it.” 

She was able to find the community that got her through those long nights and the constant mom guilt. Now, she’s looking to do the same for the Denver community.

When Erin’s family decided to settle down back in Colorado, she was eager to find her village here too. Yet, on top of the ever-lengthening world health crisis, she had trouble finding any offerings like the ones she had experienced in Los Angeles.

Where were the groups and get-togethers? The Zoom check-ins and park meetups? Where were the group text chains of midnight worries and wonderings? She longed for that connection again. She yearned to be part of a group of parents, supporting each other through milestones and sleepless nights, diaper blowouts and breastfeeding fiascos.

“We will be having our second child in a couple years. I want to make sure we not only have what we need to thrive postpartum but that other new parents do too. We certainly couldn’t have done it without our new parent community, and we want this for everyone.”

That’s when she decided that if she couldn’t find a village, she’d make her own. And Parenting Avenue was born!

Parenting Avenue offers a support group and a social group in one baby-safe package. You get a chance to make friends who are in the same phase of life, benefit from the emotional support of your peers and a licensed therapist, and take advantage of advice from a variety of guest experts on topics like baby’s sleep, physical & occupational therapy, intro to eating, mama’s pelvic floor rehab, postnatal yoga & functional movement, and much, much more.

There are two things you need to make a new friend as a parent: 

1. Repetitive encounters—you need to see this person regularly! 

2. Something significant in common right off the bat.

At Parenting Avenue, you get both! We all need friendship and support, but especially in those first months of parenthood when you’re learning on the job and everyone seems to be judging you. Parenting Avenue won’t judge—we got you!

“When it comes to welcoming a new baby into the world, culturally, we don’t think about the parents, only the baby. It's time for the shift. If we don’t have happy, emotionally well-balanced parents, we don’t get happy, emotionally well-balanced babies.”

Parenting Avenue’s goal is to reach new parents in every burg and burb of Denver, with affordable and accessible support and education. But even more so, they want to foster community. 

“Having support at your fingertips. Having people who understand where you are in life, people who you can text in the middle of the night that get it and who have been there. People who you can make last minute plans with.”

It takes a village to support parents to be the best they can be. We need camaraderie and guidance. We need to commiserate, laugh, cry, and celebrate with our community. That is joyful, healthy parenting. That is how we survive and thrive.

Parenting Avenue is designed to help you meet people and create lasting friendships as you learn and grow together. And while you’re making friends, you also get professional, proven advice from experts in their field.

“I’ve been there, I have been on the roller coaster of postpartum depression and anxiety and I managed it with my Mama & Me friends. I’ve experienced in L.A. what I am trying to create in Denver, and it is absolutely worth it to invest in your happiness, yourself, and your relationship with your partner.”

Groups are made to order, to a certain extent. Fill out the website survey, and you’ll be matched with others in your area with children aged within 12 weeks of your own, if under a year old, and 6 months, if older. Right now, there are mama’s groups that are in-person or hybrid groups that meet both online and in real life! And coming soon: Daddy & Me and Parent & Me groups.

Parenting Avenue is your community—helping you find your way to confident parenting through friendship and support. And we can’t wait to get to know you better! If you have any questions, there is a real hustler just waiting for your email (contact@parentingavenue.com).

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more on parenting, community, midnight feedings, awkward diaper changes, and the postpartum mental health world!