Dam Parenting

Gossip. Gossib. Godsib. The same word — and the meaning was changed on purpose.
Before gossip became something shameful, it meant godsib: God's sibling. Your circle. The women who gathered around you when you gave birth, who cooked and held and stayed.
That tradition was deliberately dismantled — and we are reclaiming it.
In this final episode of the Maternal Mental Health Month series, I sit down with artist Sanne Freijdag, whose project the Gossib Gathering is doing exactly that: bringing women together over fabric, stitching, and the kind of honest conversation that happens when your hands are busy and your guard is down.
We cover the medieval history of women's gathering spaces, how the quilting circle became women's last sanctioned meeting place, the science of why working with your hands is so healing, and what matrescence — the becoming of a mother — has to do with all of it.
And we launch the next session: three Sunday sessions in Amsterdam Oost where we'll be making a quilt together for one pregnant woman in our community. Because you can't always see your village — but you can make something that proves it exists.
You don't need experience. You just need to show up.
Book your spot HERE
📅 28 June · 5 July · 12 July
12:30–16:30
GROND, Amsterdam
A donation of €10 on the day to fund the supplies is all that is asked!
Sanne Freijdag: www.freijdag.com
Instagram @sanne.freijdag

We close Maternal Mental Health Month with something the research says matters just as much as therapy: community. Rachael Forester — therapist and new lead of MamaSocial — joins Dam Parenting to talk about why mum friends aren't optional. The science of co-regulation. Why female friendship in early motherhood is neurologically unique. And what MamaSocial — the community space for international mothers across the Netherlands — actually looks like to walk into for the first time.
If you've moved to the Netherlands, newly pregnant or just looking to fine more mom frirneds and you're doing this without your village yet — this one is for you.
MamaSocial runs events in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Haarlem and more.
MamaSocial instagram page

Maternal mental health doesn't always look like crisis. Sometimes it looks like not having a single person to call when your baby spikes a temperature at midnight. This week, as part of our Maternal Mental Health Month, Eva speaks to Robyn from Delft Mama — a volunteer-run charity that has been quietly building community for international families in and around Delft since 2007.
They talk about what belonging actually does for a mother's mental health, why showing up to that first event is the hardest and most important step, and how a group of volunteers has built something that feels like the sisters and mothers so many of us left behind.
If you're in the Delft area or the surrounding areas feeling like you still haven't found your people — this one's for you.
Find Delft Mama on Instagram and Facebook, or at delfmama.nl.

For international parents in the Netherlands. Every Wednesday.

When was the last time you danced? Not in the kitchen with a toddler on your hip — actually danced, to music you love, in a space that felt like yours?
On this special episode on Dam Parenting closing up the Maternal Mental Health Month series, Eva is joined by Morgan and Sam from Tiny Grooves — two Australians, nine years in Amsterdam, five kids between them, and the creators of something genuinely wonderful: rave-style daytime events for parents and babies in real Amsterdam club venues.
We talk about why joy is one of the most underrated tools in the maternal mental health toolkit, what happens on a dance floor when a parent finally feels like themselves again, and why your baby actually loves techno.
Their next event is June 21st — Father's Day. See you there!
Find them at @tinygrooves on Instagram.

Dam Parenting — for international families in the Netherlands.

Outro Music is called 'Dream a Dream' by Moby.

For those in the Eindhoven region, we have reached out to a community down there, ready and waiting to welcome you.
On this episode I'm joined by Sylvia, founder of Expat Kids Eindhoven — a community she built from scratch after having her baby during COVID, far from her family in Colombia, and realising other international mamas were probably feeling exactly the same.
We talk about what actually happens when women walk into a space where they finally feel understood, why belonging isn't a luxury for expat moms, and what Sylvia would say to any mama who hasn't found her people yet.
If you're in or around Eindhoven, find Sylvia at expatkidsineindhoven.nl or on Instagram at expatkidsineindhoven_
This episode is part of our May Maternal Mental Health Month series.