Thanksgiving is here already, reminding us to cherish the things we have in our lives as well as the people we have in our lives. It’s a time to gather with family and friends, eat, and simply be merry.

So, where does that leave your new relationship?

Typically, this is the point of the year where couples bring home their significant others to meet the folks. And as a result, it’s a tense time of year, filled with arguing, discomfort, and often post-turkey breakups.

To avoid this kind of mood killer for your holiday, you have a few options.

• Go for it – That’s right, take your new online date to the table for turkey dinner. After all, you have a great story about how you met, assuming the dating site isn’t anything too risque.
• Go for part of it – If your family can handle it, take your date over for just a dessert plate. This way, your date will be able to meet everyone, without it being a full dinner situation.
• Go separately – If the relationship is still a little new, simply go your separate ways on this special day and commit to seeing and meeting the families at the next major holiday. No pressure, no tension – just more time to see if this person is truly someone you want to bring home.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Conversation Topics, Family Family, Food, Friends, Holidays, Relationships

In this world of divorces and various dating and life circumstances, there may come a point when you are going to have children and be dating. Contrary to what you may have heard, the two can mix.

What you need to realize with your children is that there are two rules to always abide by:

1. Always be honest.

2. Only tell them what they need to know.

Yes, when you’re starting to date again after divorcing their other parent, you want to make sure they know that while you’re seeing other people, this doesn’t diminish the role of their ‘actual’ parent.

Let them know that you want to enjoy spending time with another person. It’s not that you don’t love their other parent, but that you want to see others.

From there, going into detail about why you aren’t with the other parent is unnecessary. If the child asks, diplomacy is going to be the best advice, especially when your child is young. What you can also do is let your actions speak louder than words.

Be nice to their other parent no matter what.

Be nice to the new dates you have, and introduce them to your children.

Listen to your child’s opinion of your dates.

This doesn’t have to be a sticky situation. What you need to do is to not make a big deal out of this dating situation and simply show your children how happy you are because of getting out of the house.

And how happy you are with them as a result. Smooth sailing.

Breaking Up, Divorce, Family Children, Divorce, Kids, Married, Parents

‘Tis the season for more family gatherings than ever before, so is this the best time to bring your online dating match-up to tag along?

Some dating advice says sure, they’re just like any other date.

But when you’re new to talking to each other, you might want to rethink this option.

First of all, meeting anyone’s family is a big deal. And a situation in which everyone is going to feel nervous. If your family isn’t big on the online dating concept, you might spend more of your time explaining why you’re certain your date isn’t a stalker than actually talking to each other.

If you don’t already know a lot about the date, you might be fielding angry looks from them and from your family as you try to manage a coherent sentence about their background and hobbies.

Meeting the family also has marriage connotations which might leave someone feeling like this was more than just any other date – even if you just met. You might be asked when the wedding is and just how long you’ve known this person which can become awkward after the third or fourth time.

In the end, it’s your call on whether to bring a date to grandma and grandpa’s, but you might want to consider leaving them out – it’s a gift they’ll be sure to treasure.

Family, Relationships Family, Holidays, Marriage, Parents