I have a date with a single mom. She’s insisting I pay for her baby sitter

You pay your babysitter $33 an hour? I live in Fairfield County and the going rate is much less . $20-$25

You've got to pay a little extra for the happy ending.

Haddonfield, NJ is pretty darn expensive.

Offer to take her to Chuck E. Cheese for the date & take the kids. Midway through the pizza, say you have to go to the bathroom & leave.

This. Haven't read the 5 pages, but she has a great idea. Filter out the losers who are not going to be any help.

If he values you, he'll pay. If not, let him walk. You got a kid, can't just mess around.

I like her thinking.

What's her 5k PR? (pre and postpartum)

Not sure I understand the issue with paying in advance. She needs the money. That said it’s still unacceptable. Let’s see how tonight works

Is the Tinder photo soft-focus with huge eyes?

And highly likely no clear full body shot.

If you are serious about finding a mate, you are going to have to be ready to open up your wallet when going after a single mom. Even with a decent divorce settlement with good alimony/child support, single moms struggle financially because child care is outrageously expensive and even with child care, single moms are pretty limited on employment prospects because of all the time that goes into caring for the children. And many will leave careers to stay home with little kids and have to jump back into the workforce upon divorce and just take whatever they can get. So, a single mom is going to be putting a high priority on finding someone who is not just in a good position financially, but someone who is going to be generous and willing to support the kids like they were your own. So, paying for a sitter may actually be the cheapest thing you have to do if you want to have a relationship with a single mom.

Whatever. She belongs to the street!

What an interesting topic & discussions.

Just to echo my favorite comment here I think I would have said something like "I totally hear where you're coming from and get that babysitters are expensive. Since this is a first date how about you pay for the sitter and I'm happy to pay for dinner. That seems fair and neither of us has overpaid too much just in case things don't work out." Feels reasonable and meeting them halfway to me.

Many relationship experts caution against dating single mothers. I can understand why. This issue is trivial - what comes thereafter if a relationship is formed is not.

I’m Actually surprised, or maybe not, that you guys fell for OP’s story.

It's Date Day, and if the OP is East, it's about quitting time. Assuming an early outing for one with a youngster, the time is near.

We expect an early report, OP.

And don't forget your wallet. Demone is busy watching TV.

Dude should have negotiated FS before he sent the babysitter money.

Bold prediction for tonight:

Blue balls and going home DEVASTATED

Offer to split the cost both of the babysitter and the rest of the date.

Or she's a cheap gold digger who wants free sht and maybe a free dinner isn't enough.

In my dating days I'd easily spend over $100 on dinner, esp the first few times if I liked the person.

But I agree with the poster about the smoking body. Otherwise I've seen enough of these filter types to know they're either gold diggers or bat sht crazy.