Dating with Kids? Encore Made It Real
Dating with Kids? Encore Made It Real
Tuesday 3 PM chaos: spaghetti sauce on the ceiling, my son’s forgotten science project due in 90 minutes, and a notification ping from Encore. Normally dating apps felt like shouting into a void, but this vibration held weight. Sarah’s message blinked: "Twin meltdowns today. Still up for coffee if we bring tiny dictators?" I laughed so hard I snorted - the first real laugh since my divorce papers came. This wasn’t swiping; it was life raft throwing in the hurricane of solo parenting.
We met at the zoo cafe, strollers bumping like bumper cars. Her twins were finger-painting with ketchup while mine reenacted Godzilla vs. sippy cups. Normally I’d be sweating through my shirt apologizing, but Sarah just high-fived me when my kid launched a carrot stick. "Battlefield promotion," she grinned. That’s when I noticed the magic: calendar-synced availability windows showing both our kids’ nap times in teal blocks. No more guessing if "free Thursday" meant 3 AM or 3 PM.
The real test came two weeks later. My babysitter canceled 20 minutes before our museum date. Panic rising, I hit Encore’s "Parent SOS" button - not some corporate chatbot, but actual humans. Within minutes, three local single parents offered backup. Maria arrived smelling like baby powder with her toddler in tow. "We’ve all been ghosted by sitters," she shrugged. That feature alone felt like finding cheat codes for adulthood.
Late that night, scrolling profiles felt radically different. No gym selfies or mountain summit shots - just real people with laundry piles visible in the background. I paused at Mark’s bio: "Will trade bedtime story readings for taco Tuesdays." His parenting philosophy alignment score glowed 92% - turns out we both believed in "yes days" and considered chicken nuggets a food group. The algorithm wasn’t matching hobbies; it matched survival strategies.
Our first solo dinner got torpedoed when his daughter spiked a fever. Instead of ghosting, he sent a video: forehead thermometer reading 102°F with the caption "Date night upgrade: pediatrician waiting room." We ended up video-chatting for hours while monitoring temperatures, comparing ER survival kits. I’ve never felt more seen than when he yawned, "Three hours sleep club?" That’s Encore’s secret weapon: built-in vulnerability detectors rewarding authenticity over performative perfection.
Does it have flaws? Hell yes. The "kid-friendly venues" map once sent us to a "family brewery" that was actually a biker bar with one broken high chair. And God help you if you accidentally left the "only matches with kids under 5" filter on - the silence was deafening. But when Sarah texted last week "Pizza park date? My ex has the twins," I didn’t hesitate. Watching our kids collide on the slides while we shared cold pizza, I finally understood: this isn’t dating. It’s finding someone whose chaos harmonizes with yours.
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