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The Do's and Don'ts of Single Parent Dating
- Do meet your dates away from home in the beginning of a new relationship. Being a single parent means getting a babysitter sometimes. I recommend Phone a Babysitter.com, which provides a tool and a service for parents in the United States and Canada. This site will put you in touch with experienced qualified babysitters, which offer babysitting services in your neighborhood.
- Do introduce dates as friends if your child resents your dating, explaining that parent’s needs adult friend, too. Add a tag such as "so-and-so is my tennis partner," or "a co-worker from the office."
- Don't try not to have a slew of different dates running through your home and your child's life. This lifestyle might be fun for you, but it's confusing for and hard on the children
- Do enjoy the benefits of shared physical custody, if you have it. You can perhaps confine your dating to the times the children are not with you. If you only have access to your children on weekends, there will come a point when they have to share in your dating life. Just remember that the longer this takes, the easier it will be for your children.
- Do begin locking a bedroom door for privacy before you have someone spending the night so that option is available to you.
- Do choose with care those significant others whom you let get close to your family. Children get attached to people you date over a long period of time, and these breakups are often harder on them than on the adults involved.
- Do let your ex know your whereabouts when going out of town is a responsible act, but is not always done. If your ex will not give you a phone number, suggest that he or she let you know who does know how to reach him should an emergency arise.
- You make the rules. A single parent can date, seriously or casually. A single parent can be seen out dancing on a Saturday night. A single parent can even have sex!
- Don't lean too hard too soon. Resist the temptation to make the new guy a parenting helper right away. Until you've actually decided that the time is right, don't ask him to pick up your daughter from ballet just because it's on his way over for dinner.
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