Being a single parent can bring many challenges, but for many who find themselves alone looking after their children, dating can often be the last thing on your mind. There are a minefield of questions many people have when it comes to dating as a single parent, can you arrange dates around childcare, do you tell dates outright you have children, when do you introduce a new partner children.

But then for those who have not dated for a number of year, there is a whole host of other questions to answer. What’s a normal date now, is it still dinner and a movie or maybe out for drinks. Who calls who and who pays for what and then there is sex…….

Recently 50Connect shared a guide to online dating for the over 50’s, which for those who have been out of the dating game for a long time is very handy, even if you’re not over 50! A lot of their tips are relevant for any age group! They also talk about some interesting research which showed that 41% of women don’t expect men to pay for the whole meal on a date. Which might come as a shock for some who in the past may have been used to being treated.

The research conducted by My Voucher Codes, also showed that 55% of UK adults no longer believe traditional dating values. They found, 52% of men and 58% of women did not think that traditional values of courtship between couples still apply today. Furthermore, the research revealed that 35% of men feel that meals should be shared 50/50 whilst 41% of women don’t expect men to pay for the whole date.

For those confused by modern courtship, 57% of men and 71% of women, do not think there is a need to call the next day after a date, in addition its now considered the norm to arrange a date via social media, rather than calling and for 33% of men and women checking out a prospective partner via social media is considered normal. There also seem to be less taboo’s surrounding dating and sex, 37% of men and women stated in the research that sex on a first date is acceptable.

It seems social media now plays a big part in dating, whether it’s finding a date, arranging a date and even researching a potential date there is no escaping! Dating websites have also had a huge impact and also it seems they have also had an impact on how we now view certain things, from behaviour on a date and who pays for what to whether you sleep with someone on a first date or not. Online has evolved into now finding partners via geo-locating dating apps such as Tinder and then social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Snap Chat increase the number of new people you are able to meet.

Looking into the world of modern dating Mark Pearson, founder of My Voucher Codes, spoke about this research:

Love is never simple, even though now we have more technology helping us to find a partner, it can feel like it has never been more complicated. It’s no surprise traditional dating values are no longer considered as important as they once were, as dating now is so different. In addition changes to how we view equality and strides made by feminists, mean a lot of men now see women as their equals, so they are more than happy to share the cost of a date. And it seems women are more than happy to pay their share.

History and events have also shaped how we date, it’s easy to forget even 20 to 30 years ago we were actually pretty liberal. We had the sexual revolution in the 1960’s and hedonistic lifestyles of rock stars. Promiscuity become more widely accepted as previous values which had once guided many people were now been blurred with new found freedoms.