Dating Advice for Single Parents
Dating or even the mere though of it can bring fantastic feeling! The possibilities of exploring new horizon, meeting a new interesting person and the though that after the frogs you have kissed in the past, you are finally going to kiss your prince or princess. You can almost see yourself and that special person walking hand-in-hand facing life as team, taking on challenges that faces us all in our day to day life together and winning.
The above describes the feeling and hopes of any single person looking for a partner but for a single parent, you need to temper your dreams of finding love with how to integrate your new love into the family you already have, this is where the dreams of love for a single parent takes a slightly different turn to that of a man or woman who does not have a child or children yet.
When re-entering the dating scene as a single parent, unless you meet your potential date at a website such as Parent Dating, one of the cards you must lay on the table before the start of courtship is to let the other person know you are already a parent so that the other party can clarify his or her position on dating someone with a child. Given the fact that parenthood is an important part of your identity, this should be addressed before you take things further.
If you are looking for a long term relationship (which this article assume you are) it is quite important to ensue that your potential date is not just tolerant of children but actually love children and he/she is prepared to play an active role in your childrens’ life. He/she will not be a substitute for their birth father/mother but because of the active and important role he/she will play in your life as your partner and given the significance of children in a single parents life, it is absolutely essential that you date loves children.
Once the metaphorical elephant in the room has been addresses, it is time to get to know your date better. The fact that you are a parent already means you know how to proceed with this aspect of dating so we will take the advice from when you introduce your children to your new love.
There is no text book date time or stage of a relationship when a child/children should be introduced to the new love of your life. The main think should be to ensure that the child has got over your separation from his/her other parent. Gradually introduce your new partner to your child/children, the first meeting is probably best at neutral place such as park. Introducing your new partner to your children at your home or his/her home may not be the best starting point.
After some of the meeting with your new partner at a park, gauge what your children thinks of the person, you should incorporate their feeling into how you proceed with the relationship. If your children are lukewarm or absolutely adore the person, this are encouraging signs, if they dislike or cannot stand the potential partner at all, you should strongly consider not continuing with that relationship.
Assuming that the kids likes your new partner, the personal relationship between the two of you is great as well, it is so good that you are even thinking of living together. At this stage you may want to consider finding out some background information about your partner. This can be and extremely delicate matter as the partner may think you do not trust him/her but of this is handled carefully and discussed well, there should be no reason why your new partner should not allow you to do a CRB or other check to put your mind at rest, knowing that the person you are bringing home and trusting with your children is a person of integrity.
Dating as a single parents can be fun and fulfilling without taking anything away from your child/children if you go about it carefully.
