It takes a village to raise a child
Create a supportive community for your child from birth to adulthood
Create your own Life Village
Start your Life Village in 6 steps
1. CHOOSE. Select a group of friends (4-10 is ideal but it could be any number) to invite to be part of your child’s Life Village. You may want to ask a friend to help you. Think about what qualities you want in your Life Villagers.
​2. INVITE. Invite each person to be part of the Life Village and say why you think they would be great. You could ask a friend to help you with this. If they accept, ask them what skill they would like to contribute to your child’s life or maybe suggest something eg. playing football with them, writing them a letter, reading to them.
.jpg)
​3. ARRANGE. Arrange a date for your first Life Village Gathering when you will get your child and the Life Village together. You could ask one of the Life Villagers if they would like to organise the Gathering in a park or in a home.
​4. UPDATE. Once you have started your Life Village, keep in touch with the members to tell them how your child is doing. You may want to set up a private Facebook group, WhatsApp group, send emails and photos or arrange Zoom chats. You could ask one of the Life Village members to help you with this.
5. NURTURE. Encourage the relationships between your child and the Life Villagers. Involve them in your child's life. Ask them for help if you need it.
​
6. KEEP GOING. Organise Life Village Gatherings regularly - we suggest every three years - so your child and the Life Village can get to know each other, until your child is of an age to decide for him or herself how to build the relationships. You could ask a Life Villager to arrange these or do it yourself.