Do you treat opposite gender friends differently to same gender friends with regard to being around your children?

[DollyHouse]

I'm just mulling this over in my mind and wondered what other parents think.

If I was invited for a coffee by a new female friend who hadn't met dd yet, I wouldn't think twice about taking dd along with me. Yet if I'm invited by a new male friend, it feels a bit odd to me to take dd along. I don't know whether it's a subconscious thing because I know if the ex found out he would assume I was introducing dd to boyfriends or whether it's because a new male friend has the possibility (however small) that it could one day develop as more and then I would have broken my own rules about introducing dd to a new partner too early.

Does anyone else overthink things like this? Do you treat male and female friends differently with regard to meeting your children?

No. It makes no odds to me whatsoever.

I have had (and still have) male and female friends (with children) stay over when my son is with me. He has asked in the past if certain women are my girlfriend and I've said `no' and that's been the end of it.

I think it's a good thing for children to see that their parents have a wide social life and it gives them an opportunity to mix with people with different outlooks, beliefs and doing things.

Good point about seeing a wide social life and mixing with different people. I don't think I've properly considered the benefits to dd before, just the potential negatives. It would be strange for her I suppose if she only ever sees men in the context of family like granddads and uncles. Hmm, food for thought there.