Is it hard for single parents to find love again?

[frodojodo]

I am 24 years old and I am a single Mum, have been for around 8 months now. I have a daughter under a year old, her father and I separated suddenly due to no fault of my own, I would of never had a baby with him if I thought I'd end up single!! (Obviously).

I never envisioned my life being a single parent, but I suppose not a lot of people do. I have 0 experience with how dating works after you have a kid. I feel it's easier for Dads to get into new relationships than it is for Mums.

I have a couple of questions for anyone out there (male or female) who have had experience with either dating a single parent or being the single parent.

Do guys look at you differently when you become a single Mum?

Is it harder dating and finding someone when you're a parent? And I am aware it will be harder regarding finding the time etc, I mean finding someone you like and who wants to be with you.

Do you have to actively look for love?

And lastly, does anyone have any nice love stories to tell me (single mum meets the man of her dreams and live happily ever after type thing).. just to make me feel better about my situation

Of course single parents find love again - it happens all the time.
It’s impossible to generalise about when and how though - every situation is different.
Obviously the logistics of dating are harder, due to child care, but that varies depending on how much family help you have.
And yes, some men won’t want to get involved with a woman who has kids , but some aren’t bothered. It depends on the individual.

To be honest, at your stage I wouldn’t be thinking about it too much, as your child is very young, and presumably you’ve not been single long.

I’m not able to... be single 5 years, I’m a lone parent as in my ex is not involved so I never get any time off to date, it’s possible for some but not all.

Some people will be put off by you being a parent but that works both ways for males and females but not everyone will be.

My wife died about 16 months ago, leaving me a single dad. I’m in my 40s, so a bit older than you. I’ve been having fun with a single mum for a while but it’s not going to last.

It’s taken me a while to get over things but I’m starting to feel ready for a full-on relationship, so fingers crossed. I’m starting to think about OLD but a bit nervous to dip my toe in.

I’d have no problem dating a single parent, I’ve already done it! You just need to be more careful and take things more slowly I’d say, but I’m sure there are men out there for you.

@Bagamoyo1 I don't feel ready to date yet anyway, my child is still too young and needs me 24/7 day and night. I don't have any spare time to even consider looking for a relationship.

However, I don't particularly want to be single forever, I know in the future I will want to look for another relationship.

I suppose there is so much to consider this time around, it's not just what I want it's what fits in with my life and what's best my child! I'd never want to enter another relationship without knowing it was going to last, I don't want men in and out of my daughters life!

Look at the single parent app Frolo when you're ready.they are about to launch single parent dating.

I’ve been a single parent for 6 years, since my DS was four. His dad does have him to stay every other weekend now, but this hasn’t always been the case. I couldn’t find the time or motivation to date for a couple of years after the split. I took some time to deal with the adjustment to being a single parent and when I was ready I started dating (using apps.) I met some great people, some who are still friends today. It massively helped my confidence. I also met a special someone who I’ve now been with for 2 years, we’ve taken things slow but we are blending lives and happier than ever.

The baby years are hard, especially if you don’t get much help, but of course you can find love again. Happens all the time. I think being a single parent has made me much more picky about who I want to be in a relationship with, and I think that’s been a very good thing.

It's usually alot easier to date in your 30s and 40s as a single parent as there will be similar males in the same life position, when your in mid 20s there will be alot of male's looking for a female without children as the majority of females in their 20s will not have children allready, so from a blokes perspective who has no restrictions in what and when they can do things and alot of free time on their hands they are likely going to want to find someone with the same sort of lifestyle as them selves so they can meet a partner and go off on long weekends away, holidays outside of term time, no hassle in trying to plan things when children are involved.

OP, I have been in your situation (a few years younger, even). I can hand on heart say I've never had an issue finding a man. I mostly met people through uni, then work and as my child (now children) got older it became a lot easier to go out on dates related to my hobbies.

It helped to make lunchtime/ afternoon dates rather than evening ones, while my child was in childcare, and to utilise the odd day off work (again, with formal childcare in place).

Keep your eyes open and be as flexible as you can - I've never done OLD as that would have made things quite difficult time-wise and always met people through other means instead. I've now met someone through an online game we both play and things are going swimmingly

My sister is a single parent and has been for 9 years and has managed one relationship in that time. It lasted about 2 years and she said the only reason it did was because he has children too so he understood the difficulties that come with being a single parent.

She said she can’t imagine being able to sustain a relationship with a man who didn’t have children themselves just for that level of empathy and understanding. I.e cancelling dates last minutes due to childcare problems, or dealing with an arsehole Ex who won’t do their share, or the lack of money meaning they can’t go on fancy dates, children meaning you can’t have romantic weekends away etc etc All those kind of things.