This series took place in Winter 2026 and is now complete.
Curious about upcoming ParentLab courses? See what’s coming next.
About the series
Becoming a parent changes more than your schedule.
It changes how you see yourself.
Identity After Parenthood is a three-part ParentLab series for parents who want space to reflect on who they are becoming. Not to fix anything, but to better understand the shift they’re living through.
This pilot series brings together psychology-informed perspectives, guided reflection, and shared conversation, all in a setting designed for real life with a baby.
Babies are welcome. Noise, movement, feeding, and stepping out are expected.
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Led by Carly Spring
Parenthood is often described in terms of routines and responsibilities, but less often as an identity transition.
In this opening session, we’ll explore how becoming a parent can subtly (or dramatically) shift how you understand yourself, your priorities, and your sense of continuity with who you were before.
Alongside short conceptual inputs, there will be no-pressure guided opportunities to reflect and talk with other parents about their own experiences of this transition — whether that feels clear, confusing, or unfinished.
This session is about naming change, not resolving it, and setting a shared tone of openness for the series.
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Led by Mary Banda
As parents, we often find ourselves inhabiting certain roles without consciously choosing them: the responsible one, the anxious one, the self-critical one, the one holding everything together.
In this session, we’ll explore common inner roles that can emerge in parenthood and how they influence our thoughts, behaviors, and expectations of ourselves. Through a mix of discussion and simple creative exercises, we’ll gently surface patterns that may feel familiar — or newly visible.
The focus is on awareness and flexibility, not labeling or self-diagnosis.
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Led by Mary Banda
Parenthood can bring profound meaning alongside frustration, ambivalence, or emotional intensity. Sometimes all at once.
In this final session, we’ll explore how both ease and difficulty can coexist, and how moments of discomfort or reactivity can offer insight and hold growth potential rather than something to suppress.
Using reflection and guided exploration, we’ll look at how acknowledging the less-talked-about sides of parenting can support a more integrated sense of self — without shame, judgment, or pressure to change. You are already whole.
This session closes the series by returning to wholeness, complexity, and self-understanding.
Practical Details
When:
Session 1 – Making Space for the New You
Wednesday, 18 February 2026
10:00-11:30AM
Session 2 – Identity in Motion
Wednesday, 25 February 2026
10:00-11:30AM
Session 3 – Holding the Big Picture
Wednesday, 4 March 2026
10:00-11:30AM
You can register for the full series (recommended) or individual sessions.
Where: Cafe Sweet Surrender
Language: English (always)
Format: In-person, babies welcome
This series concluded in Winter 2026.
Join us for the next one.
Who this course is for
This series is for parents who feel a little changed by parenthood and want space to explore that thoughtfully, honestly, and without pressure. It’s designed for people who enjoy reflection and conversation, even if they’re tired, distracted, or not quite sure what they’re looking for yet.
This might not be for you if you’re looking for a highly prescriptive program, clear-cut answers, or a checklist-style approach to parenting. While we hope you leave with new frameworks and insights, the focus isn’t on techniques or optimization. It’s on understanding and integrating a lived transition.
Meet the Facilitators
Carly Spring is the founder of ParentLab and has spent the past few years thinking deeply about transitions. Moving through several personal and professional shifts sparked a deep curiosity about how moments of change open up new choices, and how they create rare opportunities to reshape who we are.
She holds a Master’s in Intercultural Communication and and background in systems thinking, community building, and natural group facilitation, along with a sincere interest in how people make sense of change in their lives.
Carly is also the mother of two young boys, ages three and one. Through ParentLab, she’s creating spaces she wished she’d had during her own barsels: where parents can think out loud, reconnect with themselves as whole people, and relate to one another beyond baby milestones.
Mary Banda is a wife, a mother of two boys six and ten years old and many other things. She is a yoga teacher, stretch and breath coach, and psychotherapist in training. But many people know her simply as a mother navigating the beautifully bumpy road of parenthood, just like every other mother.
Through her own long relationship with therapy, she’s gathered a grounded, practical toolbox that supports balance in everyday life. One lesson continues to rise to the surface: less really is more. And learning to let go into “less”? That’s a practice in itself, often uncomfortable, always meaningful.
She supports mothers and students in slowing down, softening expectations, and welcoming creative practice, presence, and the surprisingly challenging art of non-doing. No fixing, no performing, no striving. Just real breath, real life, and permission to be human.
About the venue
Café Sweet Surrender
Café Sweet Surrender is a family-friendly non-profit café in Vesterbro with all the amenities you and your baby might need. You can find safe stroller parking outside, baby-changing facilities, toys and soft flooring for the little ones, and perhaps most importantly – delicious coffee & food! ParentLab courses will be held in a private room at the back of the café.
ParentLab customers can enjoy a sandwich/drink combo deal for just 90DKK.
Café Sweet Surrender is a 4 minute walk from the Enghave Plads Metro Stop and an 8 minute walk to the Dybbølsbro train station, with many nearby buses.
You might be wondering….
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We know that life with a baby is unpredictable. Illness, sleepless nights, and last-minute curveballs are all part of the deal. ParentLab is designed with that reality in mind, and we aim to be as understanding as possible while keeping our small-scale events sustainable.
You may cancel your booking for a full refund up to 48 hours before the first session of the series.
After that point, we’re unfortunately not able to offer refunds for cancellations or missed sessions.
If you’re unable to attend a session, you’re very welcome to pass your spot on to another parent.
You are always welcome to come late or leave early. These sessions are long enough to settle in, so please don’t stress about a last-minute diaper change that delays your arrival.
Thank you for understanding. This policy allows us to fairly compensate facilitators and venues while continuing to offer thoughtful, baby-friendly programming.
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No. Each session is designed to stand on its own, so you’re welcome to join just one.
That said, the three sessions together form an intentional arc, moving from orientation, to exploration, to integration. It is highly recommended to choose the full series for a deeper experience, but there’s no requirement to commit to all three.
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Each session blends a short, accessible introduction to key ideas with time for reflection and optional sharing. You can expect a mix of listening, thoughtful prompts, and simple creative or reflective exercises.
Everything is designed with parents in mind: you’re free to step in and out, tend to your baby, or simply listen if that’s all you have capacity for that day.
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Group sizes are intentionally small, with a maximum cap of 15 parents (though likely we will be fewer).
This helps create a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere while still allowing space for different levels of participation. Sharing is always optional. -
Yes. If you’d prefer to attend with someone you know, paired/group attendance is available at a reduced rate for all people when you book together. Just include your friend(s)’ name(s) and use code TOGETHER at checkout.
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Totally flexible, and entirely up to you.
Your baby can be barely sentient or fully on the move, as long as you feel comfortable. Our spaces are baby-friendly, and facilitators are happy to lend a hand if you ever need a minute (baby holding is a perk of the job!).You’re also very welcome to come without your baby. Some parents join while their children are in daycare/school or with another caretaker. These sessions are focused on parents, first and foremost.
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We hope you leave with:
New language for experiences you’ve been having but hadn’t named
Greater awareness of patterns, roles, or emotional reactions
A sense of permission to hold complexity without judgment
Connection with other parents navigating similar questions
There’s no pressure to change anything about yourself, just an invitation to notice and understand a little more.
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No. These sessions are educational and reflective, not therapeutic.
They don’t involve diagnosis, treatment, or personal problem-solving, and they’re not a substitute for therapy.Mary draws on her professional background to create thoughtful, well-held spaces, but the focus is on learning, awareness, and shared human experience, not fixing or performing.
What parents said about this series
“I loved it! It has been really nice to talk to other parents about the thoughts I had on identity, but now equipped with the right vocabulary, it felt like we understood each other well!”
“I had such a great time. It was honestly a really lovely and insightful workshop!”
“I feel rejuvenated. It was so refreshing to meet and talk with likeminded people.”
