‘Being a mum left me lonely – but an app gave me friends’
michelle Kennedy, 34, lives in London with her husband Richard and their son Finlay, three.
The moment I found out I was pregnant was one of the happiest of my life. I remember waving the positive test at my husband Richard, grinning so hard my cheeks hurt. I envisaged the next couple of years full of play dates and new friends. I couldn’t wait. But when I gave birth to Finlay in December 2013, I discovered motherhood can be lonely.
I was the first out of my friendship group to have a baby and although they were wonderful and so excited for me, my life had changed irrevocably. I couldn’t spend weekends falling out of bars, or join in impromptu shopping trips. On maternity leave from my job at a tech company, I was keen to make some mummy friends. But despite signing up to NCT classes, I didn’t have anything in common with the women in my group apart from babies. With Richard at work, I found myself stuck at home most days.
I kept thinking how great it would be if there was an app to connect mums – not for advice, but to make friends. And, when I went back to work in June 2014, I realised I needed something like that more than ever. Yes, I had my school and work friends, but no one who understood what it was like to be a mum – who I’d also want to grab a coffee with.
So I started saving and, 18 months later, using my industry contacts, I left my job and started working on my app.
Peanut launched in February this year and, like a dating app, it connects you to mums in your area, based on your interests. You log in via Facebook, so the app recognises if you have mutual friends or schools in common, too.
It’s had thousands of users and I’ve already made two great friends from it. People think digitisation can often isolate you, but it just goes to show, it can bring people together as well.
Peanut is free from the app Store and Google Play now