Keeping Your Kids Safe While Dating Online

Online dating is not just for the desperate, lonely and scary anymore. Truth be told it was never solely for those demographics—those were just the stereotypes that surrounded the people who used websites and internet dating companies to find dates and mates. Today just about everyone uses online dating sites like CupidMarket.com to find their next potential love interest. One of the largest demographics using online dating sites today is single parents.

Single parents are using online dating portals like CupidMarket.com more and more often because it allows them to find and “size up” potential dates online without having to worry right away how a new person will affect their children’s lives. Single parents can take as long as they want to get to know potential dates before inviting the date over to meet the kids. It sounds like one of the greatest inventions in single parent dating since…okay; I don’t actually have a good example.

Recently, however, an article on Portland’s Examiner.com website brought up a scary point: some sexual predators and pedophiles use online dating portals to target single parents and find their next victims. Here are a couple of hints to help avoid the attention of these predators and keep your kids safe as you explore the waters of single parent dating online:

1. Mention that you are a parent, but do not post any pictures of your children on your profile. While you might be tempted to post a family photo to show how much you and your kids love each other, resist. Wait to send a photo of the kids until you have gotten to know and trust your potential online date. Heck, don’t send a photo at all—let the date meet your kids in person when you have spent enough time together to decide that you trust him or her!

2. Don’t tell funny stories about your kids in your profile. In fact, outside of listing yourself as a divorced parent, it is a good idea to keep any mention of your kids completely away from your profile. Remember, different predators look for different things. You might think listing names and ages is completely innocent. A predator might see it as a shopping list. Creepy and scary huh?

Really—just pay attention to your instincts. Get to know your online date well before you allow that person to know about your kids. Obviously you want to be up front and tell your potential dates that you are a single parent, but beyond that the date does not need to know details until you have spent enough time together for you to decide whether or not you trust that person enough to share more.