It is not easy being a single parent and trying to date. This is more difficult when you have to work full time job and also care for your child.

Both you and your child look at your nonworking time as time for you and them to be together. Just as your child may socialize with their friends and have after school activities, you also should be able to do the same thing.

If you can coordinate your dating activities to coincide with a time your child also has a chance to socialize with their friends, you may be able to squeeze in a date or two , but if you're looking at a night out on the town you might have to hire a babysitter.

If your parents are the usual babysitter, they might care for your child while you are out on a date. This is of course if they approve of you dating. Many times parents aren't too keen on the idea of their divorced child putting their attention anywhere else but on the grandchild.

If your parents object to you dating , then you're going to have to find yourself another baby sitter. This can be quite a challenge if you don't know too many people. You can ask friends and maybe other members of the family if they can watch your child for you.

As a rule you should attend your child's extracurricular activities and sporting events. If your date is a friend of the family, and your child has no objections, you may want to make a casual date to attend some of your child's activities together as friends.

Which brings up a good question, how do you go about finding someone to date?

If you are employed you might meet someone at work. Some of your friends might introduce you to someone, and maybe even your mother might try to push you off on someone, to usually one of their friends adult children. Attending school activities might enable you to meet another single person or parent.

You could attend local single parent support groups, or maybe go out with an old friend.

You could search the newspaper personals to try to find someone you're compatible with or even try online dating. With these two options you have to remember to be safe. One point I should mention to single moms is when you are presenting yourself to a potential dating partner, it is not a wise idea to tell them right away that you have children. Many times perpetrators seek out single mothers to get to their children. I can tell you this from experience.

So after trials and tribulations let's say you do find someone to date on a regular basis. The next step is getting them and your children to know each other. You know that most children are going to milk this for what it's worth, meaning they are going to vie for your attention against your potential partner. You're going to need to come up with a solution to spend ample time with your children as well as setting aside time for yourself and your partner.

If your partner also has children you're going to have to get to know them and encourage your children to socialize with their children as well.

So you can see things could get pretty complicated. And if that weren't enough, many times the exes can also come into play. A healthy relationship means your children and your partner's children sometimes seeing their other parent.

It is rare that your ex husband or wife is going to approve of your dating choice without some flak. Most likely it is going to be something about doing this in front of the child, or not being a good mother or father or something to the effect.

You need to decide what is in the best interest of the child and then yourself. Many children services workers will tell you not to even consider dating someone else until your child is eighteen years of age. This may seem a little unrealistic, but it can give you some guidelines to choosing a potential mate and father or mother for your children. It may help you to decide whether or not you want to remain single or if you want to pursue getting remarried. Casual dating with many partners is not advisable.