Parenting site aimed at non-parents

Parents have long had a multitude of websites to choose from for community and advice, but until recently little has been available to serve the needs of what SavvyAuntie calls “P.A.N.K.s”—professional aunts with no kids of their own. SavvyAuntie, which just launched into beta last week, aims to fill that gap with a parenting site aimed at non-parents. Roughly half of American women today are not mothers, the site says, but they often have numerous nieces and nephews to dote on. New York-based SavvyAuntie.com helps such aunts connect and become savvier about kids, so they no longer have to rely on a mom or a parenting guide for advice. With sections devoted to expertise, activities, gifts and community, the site provides tools and information to help women who are aunties by relation or by choice—along with great aunts, godmothers and all women who love kids. Forums, groups, blogs, an Auntiepedia and other social tools are designed uniquely for aunties, as are the site’s digital scrapbooks and a “digital fridge door” for kids’ artwork, both of which are coming soon. Savvy Auntie has also teamed up with Nickelodeon’s GoCityKids for information on restaurants, events and local activities suitable for visits with nieces and nephews in major cities throughout the US. As the site puts it, “SavvyAuntie.com gives Aunts a unique and modern approach to learn, connect, share and celebrate Aunt-hood.” Membership on the ad-supported site is free. With considerable wealth and influence over roughly 85 percent of their household purchasing decisions, according to SavvyAuntie, P.A.N.K.s are a group worth targeting as they indulge the kids in their lives—and themselves. The advertising possibilities are compelling, needless to say. And what about localized versions of this site in countries around the world? Time to start thinking seriously about aunts! Spotted by: Ozgur Alaz