The dating game has never been so intense. Technology has brought a new range of options. Some might be expecting a match made in heaven but it is more possible it will be made online. But, are online dating services taking into account the 153,900 single parents of Ireland?
Separation and divorce are on the upswing in Ireland. Since 1996, the number of households containing a solo parent with children has increased by nearly 25 per cent.
The need for specific dating services is intensifying in this era of computerized chit chat. Single parents want a well deserved second chance for them and for their children.
Singleparents.ie is the first Irish online facility to help single parents find their perfect match, developed by web entrepreneurs Kevin Green and Grainne Barry. Since its launch in July 2006 Singleparents.ie has been joined by 31,600 members.
“We decided to set up SingleParents.ie to make it easier for single parents to date,” says Grainne Barry, business developer director of Anotherfriend.com and Singleparents.ie.
Single parents agree the dating game is more difficult for them and dating kid-free people is usually problematic. Revealing the fact that they are parents in the right moment is one of their main worries, as it could mean the end of a possible romance.
“People don’t want to get involved with single parents,” says 34 year old Sarah.
“People with no kids have a completely different mind set, different priorities and that makes them incompatible with single parents in most of the cases.”
Dating via an exclusive Single Parents site means this dilemma no longer exists, “They can be upfront about fact they have kids and avoid the awkward issue of when to reveal they have kids if dating someone new,” explains Barry.
Sarah, with two kids aged 10 and 7, has welcomed Singleparents.ie as a great idea. She has met some friends in Anotherfriend.com but she thinks Singleparents is more suitable ‘than any other site’.
Singleparents.ie users are mainly in their 30′s and early 40′s. They are still young and energetic, they see their kids growing, some of them have reached puberty, and they believe they deserve a second chance.
Like Colette. She is 43 and has 3 kids, aged 10, 12 and 14. She has been alone for 9 years and she decided it was time to ‘make an effort and get a life for myself’, when she realized her kids ‘don’t stop growing up’.
They don’t want to be stigmatised by the fact that they are parents and they’d like to give romance another go.
