myLovelyParent Lets Children Play Matchmaker

The hippest parents turn to their kids for advice on up-and-coming bands and the hottest new fashion trends, but would you ask your kid for dating advice?

That's the premise behind the latest dating site to join the fray, myLovelyParent. myLovelyParent hopes to help single moms and dads find love online with the aid of the most important people in their lives: their children. The site is the brainchild of two brothers in the UK who hope to find their "very lovely single mum in her 60s" a few "handsome chaps" for friendship and companionship.

In their own words, the brothers describe their project as "trying to open up the world of online dating to our parents' generation." "They're a generation who, on the whole, are less digitally proficient, less accepting of social networking (in its most literal sense) and who are incredibly discrete when it comes to matters of the heart," they write on the site's blog. "There are plenty of people out there who don't want to be alone. And we believe, through digital, we can bring them together."

The process, as the brothers describe it, is simple:

1. Sign yourself up.
2. Recommend people to your mum/dad.
3. Ask to be more involved OR sit back and know you've done a good thing.

Sons and daughters sign up their single moms and dads and create a profile for them, then search the site for people they think would be perfect companions for their parents. Emails are automatically sent to the parents when their child "recommends" someone for them, and from there they can take things into their own hands.

myLovelyParent seems to be taking a cue from mysinglefriend.com, another dating site based in the UK. My Single Friend lets third parties play matchmaker by asking your friends to write your profile for you, a concept that's similar to children finding dates for their parents. Other well-meaning relatives, like aunts and uncles, grandparents, and step-parents, are also welcome to help their loved ones find partners.

The goals for myLovelyParent are lofty - "I want to create something that can, once again, disrupt a saturated marketplace whilst delivering something that changes the world for the better," wrote one brother on the blog - but the site has already generated a lot of interest. myLovelyParent is currently only available in the UK, where it's in beta with plans to go live in September, but the brothers hope to bring the site to the US in January.