Page 19 - September 2017 The Castle Pines Connection

CastlePinesConnection.com 19 What’s your
APPtitude?
Make friends with Peanut
By Amanda Merriman
As a child I really
never had difficulty
making friends. I
was and still remain
a pretty open
person that likes
being around people. Once I became a parent though, I noticed it was extremely difficult
to meet new potential friends much less keep
up with my long-term ones. In fact, research shows that in order to maintain close friendships there are three necessities: proximity, frequent interactions and a setting conducive to sharing/ bonding. As we know, at least a couple of these are in short supply once you enter parenthood. Throw in a recent move and parents (especially new moms) can start to feel a little isolated. This year, an app named Peanut came out to help reduce some of the barriers moms face in finding a network of friends.
Peanut is a free app currently available on iOS. The developers of the app are working hard to make it available to Android users sometime in the near future.
Peanut works like many of the popular dating apps currently out there. Moms upload pictures of themselves to the app and enter some basic information. The information you share is completely up to you and can include age/ gender of your children, up to three interests/ passions, and neighborhood you live in. The list of interests includes a variety of fun options such as: “Dance Machine,” “Fitness Fiend,” and “Neighborhood Newbie.” Once this is accomplished, you can view other mamas in the area and swipe to say “Hi” and send a message to connect. As your group grows, you can see what friends you have in common. The great thing about Peanut is that it recognizes that in addition to being proud mamas, we still have many interests we enjoy pursuing. Peanut makes it easier to find other like-minded moms nearby. Peanut is very slick, polished and easy to use. It is a modern alternative to online groups moms have used in the past.
I signed up for Peanut recently because I moved to a home in the mountains earlier this year. At this point, there aren’t too many mamas in my neck of the woods. Aside from that, I think Peanut could be a very useful app for moms living in the Castle Pines community. For more information, visit peanut-app.io.