Well I have seen first hand how devastating it is for children to watch their Mum date, just after the sudden death of their father because their Mum was so called lonely.
I stood by and watched a little boy sobbing for his Dad on Christmas day, the first Christmas without his Dad, and all his mother could say was, stop being so selfish Mummy needs some company because Mummy is lonely. This is when the issue of her new relationship was being discussed mere weeks after the death of her husband, who she was supposedly obsessed with. That child is now grown up, and struggles with trust and forming a real relationship with women. I directly believe his mother is to blame for this.
I stand by what I say though. It is factual children suffer damage seeing their parents date other people. A good parent would not expose their young children to it. If they must find someone new, I think waiting for their children to finish school, so it does not impact on them academically, and the child has a better understanding of adult relationships would be a good place to start. People that dismiss the facts that children are very much impacted by their parents new relationships are doing so because it is inconvenient for them to accept. But ideally no it should not be done.
I still stand by on what I said on the time issue. Every date or time spent on building a new relationship is time torn away from your child, and someone else all be it a grandparent, relative or paid sitter has to pick up where you have left off. I just can't see how the majority of women have time for this, not if their taking their role of mothering seriously.
I have a right to my factual opinion without being flamed because it is all true!