First, I absolutely know this is none of my business and so I probably won't (and shouldn't) say anything, but I'm really worried about a work colleague and his new relationship.
Work colleague, whom I'll call J for the sake of this thread, is lovely but slightly shy and socially a bit awkward. Finds it difficult to make small talk etc. He has been working with us about two years. Shortly after he joined the company (which involved him moving 150 miles from his home town) his long-term girlfriend ended the relationship having started an affair with his best friend. J was devastated, and from what I can gather she was the only "proper" relationship he has ever had. I didn't know him very well at that point but tried to support him as much as I could, partly because he reminds me a lot of one of my sons.
Since then J has confided in me quite a lot, and before anybody thinks I have a romantic interest in him, I certainly don't - I'm old enough to be his mother and feel quite protective/maternal towards him, which is why I'm struggling a bit with what is currently happening. About 4 months ago he plucked up the courage to try online dating, and within a few weeks had met someone he got on with. Which is great. However, she is a bit older than him (he is 29, she is 36) and she has three children aged (I think) 8, 6 and 2. Apparently the 8 and 6 year old have the same father who has them eow, the 2 year old has a different father with whom she has no contact. J is staying with this woman at w/es when obviously the 2 year old is there, and has talked about the fact that the little girl comes into the bedroom and he doesn't know what to do as he's never had any dealings with small children.
Today he told me that his new girlfriend has asked him to take the 8 year old and 6 year old swimming next Saturday as it's a w/e they are with their mum, but the mum wants to take the toddler somewhere else. He was asking me about how independent children that age are and that he's worried he might have to help them with dressing etc, and that they won't be able to swim. I was quite taken aback, he's only known this woman a few weeks. It then transpired that he has also babysat for all three kids whilst his new girlfriend went out with her friends. He seems very keen on her and says he wants to "help her out" when she asks him favours like this, (he's also done some odd jobs for her, putting up shelves and doing gardening sort of stuff) but I think he might be being taken advantage of. I also can't understand why someone would introduce their children to a new boyfriend of only a few weeks standing.
Part of me wants to advise him to run for the hills, the other part of me thinks maybe I'm old fashioned and don't understand modern relationships - I've been married donkeys years, my children are adults now, and maybe this is how it’s done? I can't help thinking though that J is heading for a fall and is so grateful that someone is taking an interest in him that he's not seeing that this is going too fast. Should I say something to him? Or just leave it?