SHARONVILLE, Ohio — When Taylor Terry’s first son Jensen was born, very little seemed to go as she imagined. In 2020, she was afraid to take her little one anywhere. Her closest family was hundreds of miles away, and at that point, she planned on moving even further from them.
Her husband secured a job in Ohio, and by the time the family had settled down in the fall of 2021, Terry said she felt ready to find friends for her toddler and herself. But she didn’t know how to start.
“I just felt really isolated,” she said. “Our closest family is in Maine, and it was just me and him. My husband was just working a lot of hours, like 60 hours a week.”
Terry and her 18-month-old Jensen recently moved to Ohio and have struggled to find friends.
Until then, Terry found friends through school or work, but when Jensen was born, she became a stay-at-home mom.
Through much of 2020 and 2021, there weren’t many places to go to meet people, and day care options were limited, especially as a newcomer to the area.
With the loneliness mounting, Terry knew it was time to find a way for her son and herself to socialize.
“I was like alright. We can start to venture out, get some friends for me and you,” she said.
She breathed her first sigh of relief when she met her neighbor, Carly Battaglia. Another recent transplant with a son just four months older than Jensen, Battaglia could relate to much of what Terry was going through.
“It was just a really bizarre time to have a baby,” Battaglia said.
Battaglia and her son Anthony are also new to the area.
The pair soon found out they were far from alone. Terry started using an app called Peanut. Designed like a dating app, it’s meant to help mothers and expecting mothers connect. Its popularity surged during the pandemic, and Terry soon realized why.
“I just kept talking to people and talking to people and saw that I wasn’t the only one also looking for friends,” she said.
Terry started a group on the app to set up monthly event calendars and weekly playdates to help everyone get together. Usually, it’s about the kids, but sometimes it’s about setting aside time for the moms to take a break, relax and confide in one another.
“So many of us were just looking for an adult to talk to,” Terry said.
Within a few months, nearly 500 moms joined. So far, Terry said it’s done wonders for the sake of her son’s socialization and her sanity.
“He’s become such a little socialite, and are so many other moms who are in the same situation as me,” she said.
According to the American Psychological Association, it’s been a national issue since the pandemic started. In 2021, one in four moms reported their mental health declined because of the stress, isolation and uncertainty of the past year.
With the group, Terry is hoping to build back the kind of community in which she hoped to raise her son. Now, with a connection just a few taps of the phone away, Terry said neither of them have to feel alone anymore.
“It’s been amazing,” she said.
