Dating as single father is TOUGH!!!

[Radders1984]

Im a single father to a child with autism, its been a lonely time for almost a year and its just been me and him. Is a single father undesirable or am i just overthinking as am ready to get back out there but the moment i mention i have a son it goes out the window. Any advice would be great!

I split up with my husband of 20 years a couple of years ago, tried OLD (I have two boys) and purposely only match with guys either kids. I know a lot of women with kids do the same. It’s so you know you’re on the same sort of page, have similar values etc. So to answer your question it’s absolutely not off putting at all ☺️

Fellow single dad here. It’s tough no doubt being in this situation.

How much support from wider family and friends do you have? I have a good amount and it was still tricky.

Met a few women OLD who I got on well with but eventually they wanted more time than I could give.

I have recently met someone at work now and it’s going well. Mainly because she has young kids too. Women who don’t have kids or who’s kids are older are very likely to want a lot of your time and possibly more than you can give.

how are you with meeting new people? I enjoy it mostly so that made it easier.

I didnt find it a problem - apart from one who stopped messaging when I said mu kids went to state, not private, schools!

I think most women who have kids will expect that someone they meet will have kids.

I guess it depends on age. If you are early 20s, I guess most women will be child free so dont want that, if you are 50+ most will have teens or adults so very little parenting as such, and if your son is young (i.e. 5) that may be a put off. I admit that if I met a woman who had a 5yo (mine are 14/17) I would have to think hard if I wanted to go back to that.

It may be the autism being an issue too as thats something else a new partner would need to consider

A man having kids is absolutely fine.

Have a think about future overnight plans. Babysitting? Relatives? Etc.