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Single mom decides to start a platonic family unit with best friend and kids: 'We all heal together'

She made a pact with her best friend to divorce, live together, and create a non-traditional family.

Single mom decides to start a platonic family unit with best friend and kids: 'We all heal together'
Cover Image Source: TikTok | @mountainm0mma

Being a single parent can feel like raising a child with double the work, double the responsibility and half the income. However, the single-parenting problem now has a new solution called the "mommunes" aka mom commune, and it simply means co-parenting with a best friend. The concept implies the idea of platonic families or becoming platonic soulmates so single moms can help each other out with responsibilities.

A platonic life partner usually rejects the "Western ideal of the nuclear family" in favor of enlisting friends or deeply connected, non-romantic allies to help keep a home and raise a family.

Representative Image Source: Pexels | Mikhail Nilov
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Mikhail Nilov

Recently, Maddie Joy—who goes by mountainm0mma on TikTok—went viral on the social media platform gathering around 9.9 million views after revealing that she and her best friend had made a pact to divorce, move in together and start their own family. Maddie posted a video with the text overlay, "It is what it is. My best friend and I made a pact, both got divorced and moved in together, and now, she meal preps our lunches for the work week, I clean the kitchen and we're raising a wonderfully non-traditional family while we all heal together."

Maddie elaborates on her platonic life partnership and how she and her best friend make it work for their home in several follow-up videos. She adds that she is the only one with children, so there are never any disagreements about parenting.

Image Source: TikTok | @mountainm0mma
Image Source: TikTok | @mountainm0mma

She explains, "That being said, we have very similar philosophies when it comes to children and it's super duper helpful to have another set of eyes, ears and hands around. So, while I'm the one in the mothering role in this situation, she makes for an awesome auntie to the kids." These two best friends communicate better than most married couples when it comes to being good co-parents.

"We have frequent check-ins and just generally talk a lot about our relationship, our situations and our current romantic partners. We've both been through a lot of therapy, figuring out why we ended up in the unhealthy relationships we did and unlearning those things to prevent us from being in those situations again," she added. 

Image Source: TikTok | @mountainm0mma
Image Source: TikTok | @mountainm0mma

People on TikTok were inspired by her platonic partnership and want to also have such healthy parenting environments. "Your current lifestyle is honestly my life goal. Platonic families seem so much healthier than traditional marriage with kids," commented @niallhoransrealwif.e. "I’ve never felt more safe than with my mom and her friends meanwhile my dad was just there," shared @tomcruisemiddleteeth.

Image Source: TikTok
Image Source: TikTok

Maddie did, however, face some backlash from conservatives who couldn't accept the concept of a non-traditional platonic family. "Imagine seeing a post about two best friends helping each other out through a difficult time in life and your first instinct being to tag your bestie to say 'Haha! Could never be us! Because, unlike these satanic fools, we're godly and we could just let each other suffer alone,'" Maddie replied to the criticism.

Image Source: TikTok | @beachykefer
Image Source: TikTok | @beachykefer

A platonic life partnership is typically between two women, sometimes with at least one queer partner, according to Women's Health. Some couples live together and raise their children together, while others may choose to live nearby but not in the same house. According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), multi-family households have been the fastest-growing household type over the last two decades, up to 2019.

Image Source: Tiktok
Image Source: Tiktok

Another mother on TikTok, Kristin—who goes by @beachykefer on TikTok—shared that she was sick but fortunately had her "mommune" for support when she wasn't feeling well. She also received some homemade soup, and another mother offered to take her children to the park so she could get some much-needed rest. "When you’re sick but live in a Mommune so you get treated like this" Kirstin shared in a video. "This is your sign to move into a Mommune," she captioned the final shot of the video where she was seen enjoying one of the homemade cookies. "Support system like no other," she captioned the clip. 

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