I went to the Banksy Exhibition yesterday with some of my single girlfriends, and we talked about dating and being single in our late 30’s. As you get older, it seems to get harder and harder to meet someone, I know with me I get less interested in the compromising that is inevitable in any relationship. Dating is already hard as a single man, and now my “baggage” just doubled. Hi, I’m Joseph, and I have twins on the way. Not the best of ice-breakers I would say. So this raises the question, how will dating life be as a father? I think finding love as a single parent is more difficult because having children puts people off. Especially in the gay scene, most men don’t want children. They are happy with their carefree lifestyle, travel, party, do what you want when you want it. I find a lot of people love the idea of having kids in theory, but when push comes to shove, once someone reaches 40 and they don’t have kids, the idea soon passes.
And then there is the time factor. For a relationship to work, you have to put 110% into it. I mean I still don’t have my twins, but I’m assuming they will be taking up 170% of my time. How do I find the time for someone else? How does a single parent find the time to work, raise the kids, and then get all dressed up to go and meet someone? I know even now my time is spent on learning all about how to care for babies. Then when they come well dating doesn’t seem to be in the picture.
Then there is the question of if you do meet someone, when would you introduce them to your kids. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been wrong about many people in my life. Now it’s not just about me; it’s about my babies that I want to raise believing in love.
So as I talked with my single girlfriends, a felt a little sad, knowing that dating will probably not be in my cards for a while, not that I am focusing on it, but it would be nice to go through this process with someone. I think these are the steps that make a relationship solid. Having children with someone waters the relationship feeding the roots, planting them further into the ground. Don’t get me wrong I am forever grateful for the support I have from my family and friends. It just that I would love going to Bye Bye Baby or Babies R Us with my partner and together pick out the stroller and decide what color crib matches the room that we have built together for the twins. The other day I went into Babies R Us with my mom to measure strollers and all around us, I saw pregnant women with their husbands smiling and laughing. It was nice to see. Anyway, again, I am grateful for what God has given me, and I am not complaining. For any single parent out there, I would love to hear about your take on dating. Are you dating? Where did you meet them? How did you introduce them to your family?
