This isn’t anything recent, but I got to thinking about my experiences dating as a single dad. It seems to many, even to me, that it would actually be easy as a single custodial dad. After all, it instantly sends the message that a man is capable of nurturing another as well as being compassionate and loving. It should be a huge billboard on the freeway of life… or so you would think!
It actually has limited the dating pool in ways that I couldn’t anticipate. However, these limits have actually worked to my favor and have led me to wonderful people with the auto-screening my situation produces. After a while you realize that the people it runs off are people that need to be run off. They may be good people, but not a good match.
At my age, I usually run into one of three scenarios:
- Women who don’t want a man who already has kids, because they are hoping to have that “first” experience together.
- Those who don’t want to “raise another woman’s child” and deal with “baby mama drama”
- Those who have kids who are near grown or already grown and don’t want to do the whole small child thing again (Mine is six years).
In short, these three types have one thing in common – they don’t match my situation. I may be drawn to them for other wrong reasons (looks, fun to be around, etc…) but in the long run, you need a wonderful woman that matches you in most every way imaginable, and at least in the way that matters most. My daughter matters most, so whoever I date must fit into that world. That’s what I’m looking for.