Family is what you make it, right? While there are plenty of people who are still having traditional families, there are others who are looking to do things a bit differently.
For many of us, our friends are like family to us and we do not lose this bond as we age. Blood is not the only tie that binds us and we often provide our friends with the same support that they would receive from a family member.
Samantha Best and Lauren Robinson live by this principle. They are 24 and 26 respectively and they have made a very unique decision. They have moved in together with their little ones and are living as platonic partners.
The arrangement works wonderfully for them and they share all of the same responsibilities that would be taken care of in any other partnership like this.
For these young mothers, the move has been a great one. They have zero regrets about what they have done and it is easy to see why. Sometimes, it is okay to admit that you are in need of a helping hand. “Lauren and I are inseparable. We moved into a house together in May this year after I decided to move back to Auckland for better work opportunities,” Best explained to the New York Post.
“It’s so much easier living with Lauren. We’ve been able to split our finances and we are able to help each other with childcare if one of us is busy, the other can pick them both up from school, or if either of us need to go out the other can watch the two children.”
The mothers are able to enjoy each other’s company and their children benefit from having a sibling-style dynamic. “The kids keep themselves company together, but they are now like siblings,” Best says, “so they do bicker and that can be challenging, but that’s really it and it’s expected.” Of course, they are regularly asked about the nature of the relationship.
“People always think we’re together in a relationship, it’s always questioned but we definitely aren’t,” Best continued. Neither of them are looking for love, they are simply working on themselves and taking life as it comes.
Both women share about their lives and unique living arrangement on Instagram, you can follow Best here and Robinson here.