No, no, no. |
Hahaha. They are coming out swinging. God da***n. Lol. OP don't listen to these women. I have been dating my gf for 3 years now. We have the same exact age gap like you guys 10 years. |
I am the poster who is late forties who has dated divorced dads, almost all of whom have fifty fifty custody. IME, when they don't have custody, they don't spend time with their kids and can prioritize you. The fact that he is doing child care on his non custody days is kind of sucky from a dating perspective. I don't think this guy is a good catch for a 36 year old who wants a serious relationship. He does not have enough time for her. |
You sound like a nice guy and a good dad. If she does not understand your obligations as a father she's not right for you. If she does understand and simply wants to see you more, consider remarriage. |
You need to talk to her. If you are serous about her, she can come over smoetimes when the kids are there. Kids should always come first but there needs to be a balance. Does she want kids? |
F**k no. But her advice is a natural advice coming out a woman's mouth. When my dad remarried his new wife made priority #1 to put us aside. He stupidly listened to her. And now she left him. |
I'm sorry op. You sound like a good dad and human. I would just keep trying and keep communicating. That is the best you can do. Understanding her feelings about it and doing the best you can to meet her needs, where you can but putting your kids needs as #1 is all you can do. Time goes fast and once your son is at college and you are only balancing one child's activities that may open things up a little more. It is worth it to at least keep trying and keeping talking through. You can tell her that you understand this is tough, is there anything else you can do that would help? For example, could she travel with you and/or meet you at a destination you travel to for work for example? Any options for carpool for your kids you can look into for just a couple of those rides to open up one of those nights? |
+1. OP should be commended for putting his kids first. And with this sacrifice he needs to also understand that dating will be almost impossible for him. Maybe someone explains this to me. I know a few divorced men all of whom in their 40s and dating women in their 30s. One is getting remarried this summer. What women say on this forum is not what I see in real life. Those women in their 30s are absolutely dating these guys. I don't know why. There are plenty of single men their age or younger. But 30s women dating 40s women is very very common. |
The issue here is not OP or the age difference with GF. It’s him doing child care on exW custodial time. Is exW paying you child support, OP? If not, I would file for that.
And yes, kids need to share the burden if divorce by scaling down activities at time. Im a meet nester woman in my 40s and tried dating several 40s men. Even though I don’t want more kids they weren’t a good match for me: very limited time and funds for joint activities I date mostly childless younger men or nearly empty nesters in their 50s |
These women are short in time for babies and dating older divorced men who might still want one more expands their dating pool. But OP is not in that desirable category for these women |
Where are the single childress never married men in their 30s? |
If she was right for you, she would be a part of your life with your kids. Sorry, not sorry, parents of school age kids don’t get to go on dates or out with friends 3-4 times a week even when they are married and have a partner who pulls their own weight. Why can’t she make dinner while you take a kid to sports and then hang out when you get home - just like a married couple? |
There emphatically does not. A 13 year old middle school girl is not required to balance shit after daddy and mommy ripped apart her world. OP is a good dad with the right priorities |
Men in their 30s have highest suicide rate, chronic unemployment/underemployment, mental illness, failure to launch, and drugs/alcohol abuse. It is not a coincidence that women in their 30s are chronically single. There aren't enough men in their age group. So they keep waiting and waiting and waiting. As they get closer to 40, they go for option #2 divorced men in their 40s. |
Does she want to tag along to athletic games? That's what my friend who is dating a mom of teens does. They hang out after kids go to bed.
I think the question is, does she want to be the most important person in the world for you? If she's competing with your kids for attention, that's a huge red flag. |