When you’re a mom, it can be hard to find your tribe. Just because you have babies the same age or kids in the same class doesn’t necessarily mean you have anything else in common. Then factor in that you’re probably too busy to actually sit down and drink coffee uninterrupted for 15 minutes, let alone breathe deeply for 5. So yeah, it’s hard.
A new app called Peanut connects moms with other moms in the same area, like dating, except for moms who want mom friends. Sure, it sounds like something straight out of a Ray Bradbury story, but it also seems like something sorely needed. It works like the dating app Tinder, in that it uses Facebook to link people together through algorithms and a geolocation tool. Also like Tinder, moms can swipe left or right or wave to start a conversation.
The app, which launched earlier this year, is the brainchild of Michelle Kennedy, a former executive at the dating platform Badoo who helped create the dating app Bumble. Kennedy was inspired by her own struggle making and finding friends after the birth of her son.
Part of the appeal is the safety factor to it, which is why geolocation tools are used, enforcing the idea that these are real people who want real friendships. Peanut is available in New York, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Kennedy said the app is meant to help moms feel a sense of community and support, telling Business Insider that “they say it takes a village, but we no longer have that village mentality, and those support networks just don’t exist anymore.”
We’re all for it. Anything that makes it easier to connect, and safely, is hard to hate.
*Image: Robert and Talbot Trudeau
