The idea of the thesis was to survey the experiences of families attending the family cafés of Mannerheim League for Child Welfare in Liminka and see how the family café activity supports parenthood. The aim of this thesis was to develop the family café activity and the thesis was commissioned by the Liminka local association of Mannerheim League for Child Welfare. The thesis was carried out as qualitative research and the materials were acquired through a Webropol survey. The survey was answered by 17 participants, most of whom were mothers. The data were analyzed by thematization and statistical descriptive analysis. The theoretical framework consists of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, family café, peer support, communality, social capital, participation, social pedagogy, sociocultural animation, and previous studies. There are three family cafés in Liminka area, one in Liminka and two in Tupos. The results show that most of the participants are satisfied with both family café activities and information, and they would recommend the family café to others. Many of them have got friends in the family café and feel that the family café activities strengthen their parenting and everyday life through peer support and social networks. The family café provides variety in everyday life and fun things to do. The respondents find it important to associate with other parents and the family café is a good place for gathering and meeting other parents. The respondents are very satisfied with the information provided by the family café; it reaches the participating families well. The information about the activities is obtained especially from the WhatsApp group of the family café. Participation in the activities is perceived as easy because there are several family cafés in Liminka, on different days and different times. As a development proposal, the respondents hoped for more guided activities, although mostly the activity is already perceived to be sufficient and good. Suggested ideas included excursions, visitors, and theme days. The attendees would like to see more volunteers involved, such as a village grandpas and village grandmas.

Keywords The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, Family Café, parenthood, peer support, sociocultural animation, voluntary. Pages 44 pages and appendices 6 pages