Dating Websites for Single Parents
Juggling work and a social life is a tough job at the best of times; but when you are a single parent to boot, your romantic life is pretty much left to take care of itself. Fortunately the internet allows single parents to meet potential partners through dating sites and then decide whether they want to take it from there. Here are a few online dating options you can take a look at if you are single parent and wish to get back to the dating scene.
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TIP: Visit MillionaireMatch to meet women looking for men to date.
to browse photo profiles of single women and men looking for dates.Many single parents wish to explore dating sites that cater specifically to single moms and dads. The advantage is that you would be interacting with other single parents who know, by personal example, what it's like to raise kids on your own. Thus there is likely to be less friction over hastily-cut short online chat sessions or intermittent phone calls during an actual date. In addition when you join a dating site geared specifically toward single parents, you're less likely to encounter individuals who would be resistant to the idea of dating a single mom or single dad. So if you like the idea of signing up with a single parents dating site, there are several you can take a look at.
One of the most popular single parent dating sites is SingleParentLove.com. The site offers video messages as a mode of communication for platinum members even though free "standard membership" users can create a profile with up to five photographs, express their interest in other users, and even interact with paying members. On the downside, instant messaging and video options are limited to paying members here and even creating a personality profile is restricted to upgraded membership.
Another popular site for single parents is SingleParentMatch.com; the site provides specific, clear information on their web site about their prices and policies. The basic membership is free and it also states that they "regularly award $100 to [users who offer] quality suggestions." However , the basic membership at SingleParentMatch.com has such limited search options, that the free service may not be worth your time. More importantly the site does not appear to offer any specific match or compatibility testing. It is all up to the user to choose quality members to interact with.
A highly popular name in the single parent niche dating area is SingleParentsMingle.com; this site has several compatibility tools which are a great help to single parents looking for love. One of these is a two-way ideal matching feature involving a questionnaire, the answers to which are used by the site to compile the perfect match for you. The site will even send you emails and notifications relating to those profiles that come closest to your ideal match. The other compatibility tool is the color coded personality profiling. This is a test which will determine your personality type according to certain colors, following which you can look for matches whose motivations are compatible with yours. Finally there is a think you’d click feature as you are viewing search results, which is quite useful in finding out anonymously if a member is interested in you.
Apart from exploring niche dating sites, single parents also have a great chance of finding love online at any of the mainstream dating sites. The advantage of using these lies in their large member databases which increases the chance of finding a likely date. Match.com allows users to create a profile and search other member's profiles for free. There is also the option of tagging with keywords, called matchwords which enables users to find your profile quickly and easily. Apart from this, match.com also offers a 6-month guarantee. If you don't find a compatible match in 6 months, they'll give you a six-month subscription for free. On the flip side though, only paying members can email one another at this site and the wide variety of contact options, ranging from instant messaging to video chatting may be intimidating to some.
A great dating website which that allows you to access most, if not all, of their features and communication tools for free is PlentyOfFish.com. For those looking for an economical way to find love online, this could be a good choice since there isn't much difference between the free and paid options. Also a free membership comes with a 48-question "plenty of fish relationship chemistry predictor" assessment which is a great tool to find a compatible match.
Yet another practically free dating site is LavaLife.com; it not only offers daily speed dating events for free and premium members but new members even receive one free speed dating pass. But while these events are free to premium members, they cost between $2.99 and$4.99 per event for free members, depending on how many event passes you wish to purchase at a time. Apart from this, LavaLife.com also hosts online "parties" for free at 7 pm, 10 pm, and 1 am daily. However the main disadvantage is that speed dating is not available in all locations. Also some of the initial profile questions may seem quite superficial, including the ones on height, weight, and ethnicity.
As a single parent, it makes sense signing up with a quality dating websites since you do not have all the time in the world to wade through unsuitable profiles. Sites like eHarmony are popular despite their comparatively higher fees precisely because of the high quality of member profiles as well as the seriousness of the members as regard to dating and relationships. To sign up with eHarmony, you may have to cough up $59.95 per month when paying monthly or $239.40 when paying for one year at a time which actually equals $19.95 per month. The best part about this site is that it matches users based on compatibility testing, offer guided, graduated steps of communication, which can help users become comfortable with one another and best of all appeals to individuals who are serious about finding a mate. However its subscription costs may be a deterrent to individuals who are inclined to approach online dating with a less-than-serious attitude.
A 2007 article in the New York Times revealed how popular online dating has become for single parents in recent years 1. The article mentioned that “single parents are highly over represented among people who have recently used online dating”, according to figures released by Mediamark research, an audience research firm. Based on in-person surveys almost daily at more than 25,000 homes from November 2006 to may 2007, Mediamark projected that, “on any given day, some 397,000 people who are the single parent of a child in their household have used online dating within 30 days. The figure represents 16.1 percent of all recent online daters”. The convenience and safety of looking for a date from home were among the chief factors stated for the popularity of online dating among single parents.
However certain precautions need to be put in place. One of the biggest dangers is getting hooked to online dating as a result of which you may end up spending hours looking through other members' online dating profiles. For a while this may seem like fun, but you can quickly feel "addicted" to logging on and perusing the latest additions. Rather than lose your valuable time to a computer screen and even neglect your family, put a limit on the amount of time you'll spend online each day, and stick to it.
Also it is important to take online dating relationships slow. While you can send a friendly response to each person who contacts you, reserve the option of emailing only to members who catch your interest. And don’t succumb to the temptation of finding in the first person you meet online, the perfect partner or worse the perfect would-be parent for your child. Finally with your children in the picture, you need to be extra cautious with online dating. It is quite easy for an individual to conceal his or her worst qualities during the early stages of online dating. To protect yourself, you must avoid giving out personal information and use the e-mail and instant messaging services provided by the online dating service you choose to use. In addition, when you're ready to speak with a new friend over the phone, use your cell phone number rather than your home telephone number. Keeping all these precautions in mind will help you to make the best of online dating sites while keeping yourself and your kids safe.
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