Dating Red Flags: How to Keep Your Children Safe

We found these dating safety tips on a blog for single moms and wanted to share this great advice!

Dating as a single mom is hard enough without having to question the motives of every man you date. But if you are a single mom with young children, it is important to know about the darker side of the fairy tale. When you jump into the dating pool, keep in mind that you might wind up meeting a man who absolutely adores kids, and can’t wait to meet yours. That is just one of the many signs of a man who loves children a bit too much – a pedophile.

The problem is especially prevalent on social networking and dating sites, where women tend to post photographs of their children. A simple click through a few networking sites and you can find plenty of single moms, just like you, as well as photographs of their children doing all sorts of cool things. While you might smile and enjoy the fun in reading about single moms just like you, consider your attitude if you were a pedophile attracted to young children. These single moms on social networking sites are a goldmine of possibility, because by getting to them, you can get to their kids!

Here are a few ways to keep your kids as safe as possible when you enter into the dating game:

• Keep your kids off the internet – period. Take down all the photographs of them on social networking sites. If you want to share photos with family and friends, create a secure account at snapfish, photobucket, or other photo-sharing sites, set it to private, and give it a password that only friends and family will know. Put your photos there, and nowhere else.

• Don’t talk about your kids on the internet. Though it’s fine to mention that you are a mother – potential dates need to know that much! – don’t offer information about your kids to anyone online. Make that the last thing you discuss, after you have gotten to know them rather well. If your potential date asks lots of questions about your kids or wants you to bring them along on the first date, that’s a big red flag, and you should steer clear.

• Do a background check. Check into everything you can concerning a potential date. Look at child offender registries, websites that cater to single moms who need to check someone out, and even go in-depth with google — try not only their name, but variations of their name, and also their online handles.

• Never leave your child alone with anyone you are dating. No matter how well you think you know them, don’t leave your child alone with them until you are absolutely certain that there is no ulterior motive. Pay attention to how your potential partner views your child, and if you see anything that makes you uncomfortable, it’s time to bow out of the relationship. When it comes to your children, you cannot be too safe.

Source: singlemomfinancialhelp.com