I did and made another one of my own with her. I did take my sweet time finding out if our parenting style and future plans aligned before comitting, of course.
I also like the kid, which was a must.

Overall it worked out great! Two kids but only had to endure one pregnancy. That’s a win in my book!

Absolutely not. I can’t stand kids and would immediately leave if I found out they had kids, whether they were young, teens, or adults.

Nope. I’m childfree.

No, I don’t want any children of my own, so that would be a complete dealbreaker

I dated my now-wife when she was a single parent. So, yes.

I don’t want kids of my own but I love kids! I would LOVE do date a guy with kids. Bonus points if he is a widow.

Since I’m childfree, dating a single parent is a non-starter.

If I was not childfree, I think I would be open to it.

Absolutely. I’m also a single parent. However, my kids are big and independent. I’m not interested in replacing an absent parent or drama or starting over from littles. I have a career, I’m financially stable and content alone. So a partner would need to add to my life. I don’t think it’s impossible; I do think it’s unlikely. Kids themselves are not an outright no. Blended families can be beautiful.

Yes. I’m gay and kind of open to having children, so a partner having children (but me not being a primary parent) could be a nice balance.

Nope! I don’t really like kids and don’t want them. Part of the reason why is I don’t think I’d be a very great parent. To reasonably date someone with a kid, there would need to be some level of commitment also towards the kid and I simply do not want that.

I’m a single parent so would be hypocritical not to.

Then again my kids are in college, soon to be adults, I’m an older parent who doesn’t have the energy I did 20 years ago, and my focus right now is trying to make up for lost retirement savings so I can eventually retire. I do love kids but I’m not up for doing it all again

Yes - dating is ultimately just “do i match with this person, like them, and can we get along together enough.” but the odds of me dating them diminish when increasing the amount of kids they have and increasing how messy their ex’s involvement is.

Edited-To-Add: coupling yourself to a romantic partner is also coupling yourself to their friends and family, but while you can choose not to see your in-laws every christmas or hang out with your wife’s girlfriends, you can’t reduce contact with a S.O’s live-in children or crazy exes (assuming the ex has shared custody)

been doing it for four years. the only difficult part about it is a shitty coparent we have to deal with. i love my family :)

I’d say if you understand that if it gets serious, you will find yourself in a parental role of some kind (specific degree varies situation to situation), and accept that as a something you will step up to as necessary, go for it.

I was a dumb-as-rocks 20 year old when I met my ex-wife and her kid. Now my marriage is over, but I am that kid’s de facto dad and that’s pretty much a ‘for life’ thing. I don’t regret that and they are the most important human in my life, and I like to think I did a decent enough job helping raise them (no worse than my own young parents, at least). But if I had a time machine, I can’t say I wouldn’t go back and ask young Cracks if he really understands what he’s getting into.

That said, circumstances could have been such that the dynamic was different (older kid at time of arrival, more involved biodad, etc.), so YMMV. But regardless, people with kids are a package deal, and that needs to be seriously considered when dating/getting into a relationship. If that doesn’t line up with what you want out of life, there’s absolutely no shame in that.