For years, Geri Brin saw matchmaking for her son as a hobby. Now, the 63-year-old New Yorker has turned parents' urge to set up their kids into a business.
This month, Brin launched "Date My Single Kid," an online dating site that lets parents navigate the meet market on their children's behalf – something they've been doing for ages without the Internet's help.
Parents fill out profiles for their kids, like the one for Jason, a "handsome Italian man" who recently purchased his first home. "Here's hoping he'll fill it with grandchildren," his mother wrote in the profile.
The prospect may seem mortifying or just plain scary to some, but Brin's son Colby – the posterchild for the site – says he's happy to let mom take the reins.
"I think my mom might be a little bit better at knowing what I need as opposed to what I think I want," the 31-year-old graduate student told CanadaAM on Tuesday morning.
"I really look for a lot of fireworks out of the gate and someone who really just wows me in a kind of exciting, dramatic way," he added. "I think my mom is a bit more into stability and someone who might have the tools that would allow a relationship to grow more steadily."
Otherwise, he says, "she's like an agent – she'll set me up with someone but then she's pretty hands off."
Brin, who already runs a website for older women called "Fab Over 50," says the dating site seemed like a natural progression. All those women have grown kids, she said, "and we always set them up anyway offline, or we try to, at least."
She said the site has already proven popular with mothers around the world, but it's unclear how many members have signed on. Profiles are accessible only to members.
