Dating with Children

The book that I have found even more helpful than all other relationships books is The Peacegiver: How Christ Offers to Heal Hearts and Homes by James Ferrel. This is obviously a Christian book and therefore not for everyone, but it did help me put the things that were happening “to� me into perspective and see how I could embrace the Atonement for my own good. Believe it or not, it helped me deal with my ex (I used to be much worse!) and especially my children and parents.

You can order this book on amazon.com, and here are a couple of reviews of it:

From Publishers Weekly
Rick is a believer in Christ and father of four, but his marriage is locked in a miserable death spiral of petty arguments and wounded pride. Rick is crushed with self-pity and resentment toward his wife when his deceased grandfather begins visiting him in dreams in an effort to bring him to the peace and forgiveness promised by Christ. This homiletic storytelling in a nonfiction book may not work for everyone—the grandfather uses a patient Socratic approach to bring Rick along to enlightenment, and some readers may get bored as they race ahead of Rick’s gradual realizations—but the sermon embedded in the tale is terrific. Ferrell offers powerful interpretations of two Old Testament stories: the relatively obscure encounter between David and Abigail (wife of Nabal) that takes place in 1 Samuel, and the better-known story of Jonah and Ninevah. In both, Ferrell finds archetypes of Christ and evidence of how the atonement is designed to make it as easy as possible for us to forgive others and thereby attain our own peace and salvation. The genius of this little book is to weave biblical insights back into the story of modern-day Rick and his wife—to show how moments of forgiveness not only stay life-and-death battles, but also the daily battles that lead to bitter estrangements of loved ones. Both the protagonist and the author are LDS (Mormon), but the book is easily accessible to anyone seeking insights to the core Christian doctrine of the atonement.

Book Description
What does the atonement mean, practically speaking? How is Christ the answer to a strained relationship with a spouse, child, parent, or sibling? What if I am being mistreated—how can the atonement help me cope with that? How can I discover the desire to repent when I don’t feel the need to repent” And how can I invite others to do the same? These are the challenging, difficult questions of daily life, questions to which the gospel must provide answers if it is to have living, cleansing, redeeming power.
The Peacegiver is a book about the answers to these questions. Unlike other books about the atonement, The Peacegiver is written as an extended parable. It tells the story of a man struggling, with the help of a loved one, to come unto Christ. IN reading the rich details of his often difficult journey, we find ourselves embarked on a personal journey of our own. His questions are our questions; his problems, our problems; his discoveries, our discoveries. Along the way, the truths of the gospel are unfolded with surprising clarity and power, illuminating aspects of the atonement that few of us have ever heard or considered before. These surprising implications show us the way to deep and lasting peace in our hearts and homes.
“My peace I give unto you,” the Savior declared. The Peacegiver explores in a deeply personal way what we must do to receive the peace he stands willing to give.

The Peacegiver, peace, Atonement, Christ, relationships, marriage, James Ferrel, Publishers Weekly, book review, ex, parenting, family relationships

A friend of mine is getting married later this month and is going to be blending a family in the process. She seems so incredibly serene about the whole thing. She loves the future stepchildren, she’s confident in the job her intended will do as a stepfather, and she exudes confidence in this decision.

I totally cannot relate. Every time I read her posts on our message board about the things she is doing to prepare for the wedding (dress buying was last week, and today they are going to pick up the marriage license), I seriously feel nauseous. That isn’t my attempting a little bit of cute nausea humor either. I really really really feel ill! I have been told that this means a) I am even more of a freak about commitment than I thought or b) I have not met the right person yet.

I think it’s a combination of both. I am freaking out about commitment because I have yet to meet a person I could stand to see on a daily basis. My children want me to remarry so badly so they can “have a dad in the home again�, and because of that, I honestly from time to time get tempted to search out Mr. Right Now. What I need to remember is that they will not be happy about having a stepfather if I can’t stand having the man for a husband.

I have spoken. Now go out and have a great day!

marriage, blended family, peace, stepchildren, stepfather, relationships, commitment, parenting, dating, remarriage, Mr Right Now, nauseous

Have you ever said something in a moment sarcasm that someone else took literally and before you knew it you had committed to doing something that you not only had no interest in doing, but that you felt was an idiotic thing for you to do?

Yeah, me too. This weekend is gonna suck.

sarcasm, commitment, weekend, anger

Lately dating has been very far from the front of my mind. My ex usually has the children every other weekend, but because of Holidays and his Army Reserve schedule, it has been three weeks since he has had the children for the weekend.

My hat is off to those who are raising their children alone due to abandonment or death of a spouse. I don’t know how you do it and maintain your sanity, but here are some things that I have learned in the last few weeks:

1) Take regular time-outs, especially if you feel like you are going to have a temper tantrum that would make any two year old stop and stare in awe. My favorites: Locking the door while taking a bath, locking my bedroom door and watching half an hour of t.v., a brisk walk around the house (or several times around the house) with no kids allowed.

2) Talk to friends who have some understanding of your situation, and who won’t be afraid that you have the Children from Hell if you describe your kid’s tantrum or if you complain about their lack of help in the house. You want someone you trust for this; someone who will love you and your kids regardless of how you are all behaving on that particular day. Most importantly, someone who will not judge you or your parenting skills negatively regardless of what you say.

3) If you really do blow a gasket and holler your kids or punish them in other ways that are not entirely necessary, a simple “I’m sorry� goes a long way. My children understand if I say: “I’m so sorry I yelled at you like that. This has been a hard day for me because I’m very tired, but it’s not okay to take it out on you.� They ALWAYS respond well to that and give me extra loves to reassure me that it’s okay and that they love me anyway.

4) Make sure your kids get outside at least once a day, if not more. When my kids go outside and play in the snow (or in the sun, depending on the season), they are always in a better mood when they come back in than when they went out. They need the fresh air and the exercise to clear their heads from all the cartoons and video games.

5) If you need to, get out of the house! Do NOT feel guilty. Sometimes I will just run to the store for no apparent reason just to get away for a few minutes, but there are many other things to do. Go to the library. Go out for coffee with a good book or with a friend. Get together with the girls (or the guys) for a night on the town. Go on a date. Hire a babysitter if you need to. Your children will NOT thank you for not refilling your own cup. You will be a better parent for it.

As I wait for this weekend to approach, I’m going to be taking my own advice as well. Being the only parent is a hard row to hoe!

Cheers!

dating, dating with children, visitation, sole custody, temper tantrum, communication, punishment, parenting, snow, sun, library, reading, coffee, night on the town

I have a friend who lives south of me about 450 miles who I used to date. While we only went out a couple of times due to the distance, we have remained online friends and chat every now and then. He is tall and beefy with pretty blue eyes and is raising three handsome and well adjusted sons on his own. He has held the same job for a number of years and has only been married one time. Sort of what I would consider a good catch, I guess.

The other night we were chatting and he said, “So, when are we going to go out again?� to which I said, “Geeze, I don’t know!� I asked what he had in mind for a date because I’m certainly not going to travel that far for him to take me out and there is not a lot to do where I live.

He then said, “That depends. How long will it take for our clothes to be in a steaming pile on the floor?� At first I thought he was kidding, but he assured me he was not. I was pretty dumbfounded. Nothing in our prior dates had suggested that I was going to do the horizontal tango with this man. Is it something of a third date rule that you have to have sex? I may have to do some more research on the etiquette of sex and dating!

While I really like this man’s children (mine don’t know him) and have spent some entertaining time with him, I don’t see this as something that will progress into a real relationship. SO if I do date him again, it will purely be a booty call. A friends with benefits sort of a thing.

Did I say yes to the date?

sex, sex and dating, third date, dating with children, long distance dating, friendship, friends with benefits, booty call, relationships

Can you believe that Dr. Phil is actually a proponent of online dating? That surprises me very much because it seems like veryone up here in BFE is very much against it! And how on earth do you meet someone in such a place if not online?

On his website, Dr. Phil had the following advice for those searching out love in cyberspace:

The Dos and Don’ts of Dating Online

These days, going online is as common a way to meet someone as a blind date or the bar scene, and you can connect to people of all ages, religions, professions and backgrounds from all over the globe. Online dating can be a great tool for broadening your options as long as you are smart, are cautious and take some very important safety steps.

Creating Your Online Dating Profile

Questions to ask yourself before you write your profile:

*What is special, unique, distinctive, or impressive about you or your life story?

*What details of your life, personal or family challenges, history, people or events have shaped you or influenced your life goals?

*What have you learned about past relationships, in terms of yourself?

*What are your relationship goals?

*Have you had to overcome any unusual obstacles or hardships (for example, economic, familial or physical) in your life?

*What personal characteristics (for example, integrity, compassion, persistence) do you possess, and how can you demonstrate that you have these characteristics?

*Why might you be a stronger candidate than others?

What is the single most compelling reason you can give a person to be interested in you?
Jim Safka, CEO of Match.com offers these tips:

*Do include a photo. People who’ve uploaded a photo get 15 times more attention than people who don’t have a photo.

*Make sure you smile in your photos. That sexy face you’re making? It may come across to some people like your scary face.

*Don’t hide your face behind a pair of sunglasses or a hat. Potential love interests will want to be able to see your beautiful face.

*Don’t show too much skin. Nobody wants to see you pose seductively in your kitchen in your tighty whities.

*Do make your headline a grabber. Think of all the great advertising slogans you’ve ever heard. They’re imprinted in people’s minds. You want to do the same thing with your profile.

*Consult your friends and family for help in writing your online profile. There are things that they love about you that you might not otherwise think about for yourself.

*Don’t use clichés. You may love long walks on the beach, but who doesn’t? Say something interesting about yourself that is unique to you.

*Don’t forget to run spell-check. If you have misspelled words in your profile, it tells the world that you just don’t care about what you’re doing.

*Do respond to every e-mail that you get. If you were walking down the street and someone said hello, you’d probably say hello back. It’s the same protocol online. Respond, even if the answer is a simple, “No, thanks.”

*Keep it light. Your first e-mail should not be a rant about how expensive gas prices are. Keep it lighthearted in tone and keep it simple.

*Don’t reveal confidential information in your e-mail exchanges. If you were at a local coffee house, you wouldn’t give out your home address to just anyone standing in line.

*Don’t meet in person until you’ve actually talked on the phone. You know voice and sound are great way to judge chemistry.

Cyber Safety

*Verify information on a potential match as thoroughly as possible.

*Always create a separate e-mail account for your online dating activity.

*Get a post office box, rather than using your home address, to register for the dating site. (Do this for all sites where an address is required.)

*List your cell phone number, not your home number, if the site requires one.

*Change your cell phone billing address so it goes to your post office box. That way, if some nut has access to a backward phone book (one with phone numbers in numerical order and their corresponding addresses) he can’t look up your address.

*When chatting or e-mailing, never give more than a first name, and keep it that way until the first date.

*Install a privacy checker on your computer. This lets you set privacy standards and be alerted when a dating site doesn’t meet them. These checkers are often free and can be downloaded online.

For more information, see Chapter 8 in Dr. Phil’s book, Love Smart: Find the One You Want — Fix the One You Got.

Match.com, Jim Safka, online security, online privacy, online dating, Love Smart, Dr. Phil, cyberspace, love, dating

Top 8 reasons why its good not to be involved with someone during the holidays:

8. You don’t have to spend time with his weird family

7. You don’t have to try to blend your traditions with his

6. You are totally available if you meet some hot guy at a party

5. You can watch any Christmas movie you want, at any time you want, as many times as you want, or you can skip Christmas movies altogether

4. You can go Christmas shopping any where you want, and spend as much as you want without hearing “Are we done yet?”

3. You can listen to all of YOUR favorite Christmas music

2. You can ask Santa for a new boyfriend without feeling guilty (there were a few years I wanted to trade mine in for another)

1. It’s one less person to buy presents for..

shopping, gift-giving, holiday traditions, boyfriend, parties, Christmas music, weird families

While searching out books befitting my single status, I came across Single Mom Seeking. While the author, Rachel Sarah, is younger than me and only has one child, a baby at that, it was very entertaining, racy, and had some great advice as well.

From the back cover:

“Rachel Sarah offers a sexy, edgy, honest exposé of single parenthood.”
— Susan Shapiro, author of “Lighting Up” and
“Five Men Who Broke My Heart”

When she hit thirty, single mom and journalist Rachel Sarah realized that she had been in domestic overdrive too long. But trying to get over her ex had all shut out the possibility of dating and hot sex again.

When her daughter stopped nursing, however, a switch was flipped. Her libido was back. And so was her need to find a man. But motherhood had changed her. Where once she had been a free-spirited adventuress, now she was first and foremost a mom–dedicated completely to her daughter’s well-being.

Single Mom Seeking is about Rachel’s ongoing search for The One as she remains a dedicated and involved mom. It’s a spunky, sexy, and moving chronicle of the humor, pitfalls, and rewards of balancing the complexities of parenting and dating — single-mom style.

I highly recommend the book to all who are parents, single, and seeking.

single parenting, sex, libido, parenting and dating, single mom, dating, dating with children, dating single moms

True.com, a dating site I have used in the past with moderate success (no, I’m not on there anymore), has some interesting personality profiling, my favorite of which is the Sexploration profile. This is supposed to tell you if you’re wild or mild in the bedroom and line you up with matches of similar or complementary drives. The categories one can be lumped into are: Traditionalists, Introverts, Contradictors, Fantasizers, Intellectuals, Subservients, Initiators or Mavericks. I was categorized as a Maverick, and according the True, that means:

Giddyup. Mavericks are provocative, adventurous and uninhibited. You like your partners to be mutually aggressive and experimental. You’re the Indiana Jones of the bedroom - or any other place you decide to have sex. If you hear about it, you’ll probably try it. Milder Mavericks have tried sex toys, movies, books, public sex, being restrained during sex, watching other people having sex, or watching yourself and your partner in the mirror while being intimate. For wilder Mavericks, the sky’s the limit. You’re the ultimate sexplorer when it comes to experimentation and sexual creativity. Accordingly, your drives have the potential to exhaust any lover!

Mavericks can do the basics — oral sex, standard foreplay and dirty talk — in their sleep … and sometimes they do! This group’s favorite way to fall asleep is through orgasm. It’s much better than a bedtime story! But when a Maverick is in the mood for a bedtime story, costumes are usually involved. Many Mavericks tend to like playful bondage and sex toys. Mavericks will try sex outdoors, indoors, on the roof, in the basement, from the front, from the back … there’s just no wrong way to do it — if you’re consenting adults. Your idea of a night at the movies involves you as the star on a home video. Have you tried getting busy in a secluded spot outdoors? Lots of Mavericks like this! Wilder Mavericks are into role-playing and incorporating food into their sex play.

What’s more, the results include how well you match up with other Sexplorer types. My top three are as follows:

Mavericks and Mavericks
Get the two of us together and …
With another Maverick you’ve got the best of all worlds: You’re like two puzzle pieces made for each other! You’ll spur each other on to even more fun, provocative and uninhibited play. You’re both eager to experiment, a powder keg waiting to explode: Dynamite mental, verbal and physical foreplay is in store. You’re a wonderful pair for role-playing and together, you’ll never be bored (or bore those who are watching)!

Mavericks and Fantasizers
Get the two of us together and …
When you get together with a Fantasizer, it’s a wild ride. You’re both game for almost anything — the difference is, you’ve probably already tried it while the Fantasizer has just dreamed about it. You get to be the catalyst to turn Fantasizers’ dreams into reality. Since you’re both aggressive and experimental, you’ll rock each other’s world as you talk about it and do it.

Mavericks and Subservients
Get the two of us together and …
Wahoo! Subservients are submissive, with an attitude. They know what they want, and they want you to do it. For the two of you, foreplay will be a portent of wilder things to come. Subservients will bring out your lusty, dominant side. It almost guarantees awesome role-playing

In addition to the Sexploration typing, True also has a great Compatibility Test, which has proved to be right on for me. Once I went against the test: it said I shouldn’t date one of the men I did from True, I did it anyway, it didn’t go well, I didn’t see him anymore. (That is the short story) He was controlling to a fault (I don’t mind a little bit of that, but come on!) and tried to tell me how to do everything from clean my house to raise my kids. No thanks!

I’ll review other sites that I’ve found interesting in the days to come. Keep checking back!

Jill

sex, sexy typing, sex quizzes, true.com, sexploration, raditionalists, Introverts, Contradictors, Fantasizers, Intellectuals, Subservients, Initiators or Mavericks

The following was posted on a relationships and dating board that I frequent and was used with permission of the writer. As I have not attended the class, I don’t know personally how they are, but I do trust the source.

Ken Hennefer, LCSW, PhD, teaches an adult education class at the Cottonwood High School on relationships. He’s been doing it for years and has a pretty good following. When school is out he will usually do a session at a library, for free, and he is doing one this Wednesday, Dec. 6, at 7pm at the Murray City Library, 166 East 5300 South, Murray, Utah.
He is going to have a panel of guys and gals who are going to answer whatever questions posed to them on relationships, kids, sex and all kinds of things. I have been to one of these before and it’s pretty fun and informative.

They often get together after class at the IHOP across the street.

Ken is very good at this, and this class is not done to hype the regular classes, he doesn’t need to, they are well attended. Its done because Ken understands that this time of year we all need support, and since the adult education system does not hold classes during December, and the Summers, he does.

THERE IS NO COST FOR THIS CLASS, IT’S FREE

Ken Hennefer, adult education, relationship classes, December classes, summer classes, Cottonwood High School, Murray City Library

I guess you men have to eat less and smoke more so you can be more manly!

Men’s testosterone levels declined in last 20 years
Tue Oct 31, 2006 2:23 PM ET

By Anne Harding

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study has found a “substantial” drop in U.S. men’s testosterone levels since the 1980s, but the reasons for the decline remain unclear. This trend also does not appear to be related to age.

The average levels of the male hormone dropped by 1 percent a year, Dr. Thomas Travison and colleagues from the New England Research Institutes in Watertown, Massachusetts, found. This means that, for example, a 65-year-old man in 2002 would have testosterone levels 15 percent lower than those of a 65-year-old in 1987. This also means that a greater proportion of men in 2002 would have had below-normal testosterone levels than in 1987.

“The entire population is shifting somewhat downward we think,” Travison told Reuters Health. “We’re counting on other studies to confirm this.”

Travison and his team analyzed data from the Massachusetts Male Aging Study, a long-term investigation of aging in about 1,700 Boston-area men. Data from the men were collected for three time intervals: 1987-1989, 1995-1997, and 2002-2004.

While a man’s testosterone level will fall steadily as he ages, the researchers observed a speedier decline in average testosterone levels than would have been expected with aging alone.

They hypothesized that the rising prevalence of obesity as well as the sharp decline in cigarette smoking might help explain their findings, given that testosterone levels are lower among overweight people and smoking increases testosterone levels. But these factors accounted for only a small percentage of the observed difference.

It’s likely that some sort of environmental exposure is responsible for the testosterone decline, Travison said, although he said attempting to explain what this might be based on the current findings would be “pure conjecture.”

The researchers used body mass index, the ratio of height to weight, to estimate obesity levels, he noted, but this is not a very accurate way to gauge the real adiposity, or fat content of the body, so it’s possible that obesity might be more of a factor than it appears in this analysis.

“I think like most things that are complex, it’s likely that there is no one cause,” he said.

testosterone, bmi, obesity, smoking, medical trends

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, January 2007.

For all those men who say, Why buy a cow when you can get milk for free? Here’s an update for you: These days, 80% of women are against marriage. WHY? Because women realize it’s not worth buying an entire pig just to get a little sausage.

Bad Jill! BAD JILL!!

marriage

From the book: “His Needs Her Needs”

The author’s list of the top emotional needs is:

1. Affection
2. Sexual Fulfilment
3. Conversation
4. Recreational Companionship
5. Honesty and Openness
6. An Attractive Spouse
7. Financial Support
8. Domestic Support [= help with household duties]
9. Family Commitment [= help with child-rearing]
10. Admiration

Kip: LaFawnduh is *the* best thing that has ever happened to me. I’m 100% positive she’s my soul mate. Don’t worry Napoleon; I’m sure there’s a babe out there for you too. Peace out.

………………and then later……………..

[Kip is singing to Lafawnduh after they are pronounced husband and wife]
Kip: Why do you love me? Why do you need me? Always and forever… We met in a chatroom, now our love can fully bloom… Sure the world wide web is great, but you, you make my salivate… I love technology, but not as much as you, you see… But I STILL love technology… Always and forever. Our love is like a flock of doves, flying up to heaven above… always and forever, always and forever… Why do you need me? Why do you love me? Always and forever…

Ya gotta love movies that show online dating at its best, don’t ya? My favorite movie portraying online dating is You’ve Got Mail, but Napoleon Dynamite runs a close second.

online dating, movies, Napoleon Dynamite, You’ve Got Mail, Kip, Lafawnduh

I found a great article on a single parents site on finding time to date. I have inserted my own experiences with each of the suggestions, which were written by Jennifer Wolf:

As a single parent, it can be extremely challenging to find the time to begin dating again. After all, you’re busy with work and raising your children! How do you make the time to start dating without taking too much time away from your other responsibilities? These suggestions will help:

1) Participate in Social Activities as a Family
There are many opportunities to build an active social life alongside your children. For example, think about the activities offered through your church, synagogue, or community group. What’s unique about a group social setting is that you have the chance to interact with a lot of people at once, and you can get a sense of who you might want to see again. This way, you’re not “wasting” another Saturday night on someone you don’t know at all and might not want to see again.

I went on tour of Gates of the Mountains north of Helena, Montana once with my church. The singles group puts it on, but it’s not like a mixer where you’re actually shmoozing because most people bring friends, parents and children. I met some fun people and actually did get a date out of it (no, he didn’t ask me out in front of my kids!). It was not only fun and social for me, but my kids had a wonderful time on the boat and playing with other children.

2) Have Lunch with Someone You Might Like to Date
Lunch is a very non-threatening and non-committal setting for getting to know someone. There’s little room for either person to assume any hint of commitment following a friendly lunch! Plus, regardless of how busy you are lunch is something you should be stopping for every day, anyway, right? So consider getting a slice of pizza or a quick sandwich wrap with someone you’d like to get to know better.

I met a man online once who lived about 60 miles south of me in Butte, Montana. We had fun and he was very charming online, but I had no idea what things would be like in real life as we did not devote a lot of time to chatting or talking on the phone. He was on his way through Helena one day and we decided to meet downtown for lunch. We wound up having a great time and after lunch perused the shops in downtown Helena. It was very non-threatening and fun, and he is a good friend to this day.

3) Go Out for a Latte.
Having a latte is a great way to unwind, and it makes for a quick dating opportunity. You’ll have the chance to get to know the other person, talk about what’s important to you, and then step back and think about whether you’d like to go out again. This might require an hour of your time, and it would serve two important purposes: the chance to relax for a few minutes, and the chance to get to know a potential new friend.

Again, an online dating experience. I men a man on Yahoo Singles, but really didn’t know if I’d like him or not. I tend to be very wordy and chatty in emails, and he was very short of speech. I had no idea if he just didn’t like me or if he just wasn’t much of a writer. We decided to meet for drinks one day after work just for fun. As it turned out the man was far better looking than his pictures and was a lot of fun to talk to, which I never would have known from his emails. We had our first date in July 2004 and still see each other every month or so. Yes, a slow relationship that is probably more like a close friendship, but what’s the rush? That first non-threatening date developed into dinner, but had we not hit it off, we could easily have said goodbye after the first drink.

4) Meet at the Gym
I’m not suggesting that you seek out potential dates at the gym (though that could be fun). I’m suggesting that once you’ve met someone you might like to get to know better, if you’re both committed to working out regularly, plan to coordinate your workouts. Again, this doesn’t have to involve a huge commitment. “Hey, I’m going to gym Friday morning; want to join me?” You talk across the treadmill, share a few laughs, and get a sense of whether this is something you’d like to pursue.

If only there was a gym to attend in Nowhere, Montana.

5) Schedule a “Date” on a Saturday Afternoon.
Daytime is a great time to get to know someone better! Again, it doesn’t imply a commitment; it’s simply an opportunity to have fun and get to know someone better. Try playing a round of miniature golf or visiting a museum together. If you really want to get to know someone - which is the idea if you’re trying to decide whether to invest more time in a potential relationship - look for activities that will allow you plenty of opportunities to talk and laugh with one another.

One of the most fun dates I’ve had was playing miniature golf at Sleeping Giant Lanes in Helena, Montana. Neither of us were very good at it, but there was the water from the little pond to splash on each other, and the high-fives following a good put. It was very casual and gave us a great oppotunity to laugh and be silly. After all, you can’t very well be a class act and miniature golf at the same time.

I hope you have found these suggestions to be as helpful as I have. Dating doesn’t have to be the traditional dinner and a movie experience. It should be fun and it should be something that you can find time to do while still being a parent at the same time.

Enjoy!

dating with children, time for dating, parenting, miniature golf, Gates of the Mountains, Butte, Helena, Montana, commitment, single parenting