Moms open up about living together on ‘Mommune’

When Christine Batikeffer brought up the idea of ​​living in “Mommune” to her best friend Tessa Gilder, Gilder said it felt like a terrifying proposition.

The two mothers have been close friends for years and have had some of the greatest moments of their lives together, including living together as college roommates over a decade ago and becoming pregnant together around the same time.

Batykefer and her daughter, now 4, moved in with husband and wife Cleta and Ben (who asked to withhold their last names for privacy reasons) last July. Battykefer is on the verge of divorce, and Creta and Ben are friends and burglars in Battykefer’s family, offering their Florida home to the mother and daughter as a place to stay indefinitely. rice field.

“This is a play on mothers and communities,” Batikeffer told Good Morning America. “It’s a community of moms living together under one roof…helping each other raise their children.”

A few months after the move, Batikeffer said Gilder called and told her she was considering divorcing her husband. So Batikhefer suggested that Gilder and her two children (now 4 and her 1) also move into Creta and Ben’s house.

“At first I was like, ‘No, I can’t go back to Florida. That’s insane. I’m in Colorado,'” Gilder recalled to “GMA.” “I had a very successful business, a salon that I opened, but I felt like I was leaving a lot of things behind, which was really scary.

However, the more Gilder considered the offer, the more she felt that what Batikefer had—a supportive “village”—was also what she was looking for.

“I felt I could have that support and that family unit and that village that everyone was talking about. [to raise a child]’ said the mother of two.

It was a leap of faith for Gilder, who moved in with her best friend, her best friend’s daughter, and two strangers she didn’t really know.

Now mothers say they couldn’t be more grateful for what happened to the shared home of three mothers, one father and three children.

“There [are] It’s hard to have two four-year-olds running around and a one-year-old crying at the same time,” Gilder said. But we’re okay, we’re down to earth and we can just help each other and ride the roller coaster, not too busy or too exciting. “

“In the midst of feeling alone and so hurt in my situation, I was reminded that there are good people in this world and they are constantly showing up every day,” Gilder continued. I am very lucky to know

Batykefer adds:

For other single mothers and parents who want to consider living in a “motherless home,” Batykefer encourages it, but aside from weighing safety concerns, she offers important advice. increase.

“My main piece of advice is that you really need to make sure you have similar parenting styles, similar views and beliefs about things, and that you trust those people.” because there are a lot of them around your child.” she said.

Batykefer and Gilder say they plan to stay in Mommune together, even if they move out of Cleta and Ben’s house in the future.