Our Story
Mausi and Little Bear KinderCafe was born out of the longing for a nourishing community for parents, children and caregivers.
Our founder, Viviana Lindo who is from Peru and her husband, who is from Germany, have relocated several times around the world to pursue higher education and work as well as moved across the country. Once they chose to start a family, they knew that their children would be growing up without their extended community of grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins, a reality that was very different from what both of them experienced in their own upbringings and hometowns. Once in Maryland, Viviana’s longing for the presence of her extended family and community remained. With the arrival of her two beautiful children, this longing and commitment to community pushed her to create an extended network of support in which her children could grow with “surrogate grandparents” and friends. Viviana understands the great benefit of having a diverse community of children and families, having play dates, developing friendships, and essentially growing up together. This extended community also fulfills parent’s need for connection, sharing, and gathering throughout this exciting, life-changing, and challenging journey of parenthood.
As her children grew, Viviana recognized that her experience mirrors the reality of many other families who have relocated for work or education or immigrants and refugee families who have been forced to leave their loved ones behind. Raising a child takes a village and creating a family in isolation is extremely challenging. Parents, caregivers and particularly mothers raising children away from extended family need to have access to a community of support. In the shared experiences Viviana encountered with other mothers and caregivers, they often wished for a family-oriented environment which would provide a place for parents to gather, enjoy a hot cup of coffee, tea or healthy snack while the children are safely occupied, allowing them to have some nourishing “adult time.” And this is how Mausi and Little Bear KinderCafe was born.
Mausi and Little Bear KinderCafe strives to be a nurturing, safe and fun space for both, parents and children. We imagine it as the place where you will come to with your friends or where you will meet other parents that will eventually become part of your community, your support system, and your circle of friends.