Relationships
Why shared parenting is so great for kids – and for moms!
Other ways to listen: iTunes ♦ Stitcher ♦ TuneIn ♦ SoundCloud ♦ Google Play After one meeting with my ex and our lawyers to negotiate the custody agreement of our divorce, I went home, busted out the calculator, and cried. I freaked out at the idea of being away from my kids for extended hours or days, and I…
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Tinder co-founder Whitney Wolfe: 40 y/o men are ready to commit; Dating advice for recently divorced
In this episode, I interview Tinder co-founder and Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe whose insights on dating have me floored. For example, she confirms my hunch that men age 40 are ripe for the picking — they’re accomplished and ready for a cozy relationship. Listen up, ladies! Also, I help a follower Lisa, in Phoenix, navigate dating after…
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Millionaire Matchmaker Patti Stanger on successful women finding love, her abortion and why college women should freeze their eggs
On Like a Mother with Emma Johnson, I interviewed Millionaire Matchmaker Patti Stanger who recently launched the audio coaching program, “The Single Girls’ Handbook,” and her wine, P.S. Match, and is author of four books, including Become Your Own Matchmaker. My No. 1 question? How can successful women find love. We also talk about her abortion…
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Why single parents should put their kids second when dating
I meet most men that I date online. What do you look for when dating a man with kids? It’s very common for guys with kids to write in their eharmony.com profiles: “My kids come first,” or “My daughter is the center of my world!” I get where you’re coming from. You want a potential…
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Why “Nothing personal, but I don’t want to date a single mom” is totally personal
Way back at the beginning of my single mom dating shenanigans I fell in love with an older man. My kids were 1 and 3, his were in college. A few months in, I broke it off over a boozy Italian dinner. “Face it,” I said. “You don’t want to be running around with little…
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Single moms need gigolos
If I had a nickel for every time I said, “We don’t whine in this family!” I could afford to hire a gigolo for a few hours. This guy wouldn’t pole dance or get freaky on me. He’d give me a goddamn hug and cook me a reasonably nutritious meal and listen to me go…
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The benefits of dating single dads
I recently went out a couple of times with a single dad whose daughter happens to be the same age as mine. We spent our first date talking about our kids and the challenges of parenting — and realizing we have a lot in common. For example, we both feel perfectly satisfied having spent our upbringings …
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Facebook is my babydaddy
I don’t have a husband. I have Facebook. As a single mom, there are lots and lots of things that I can handle really, really well. I run the house, make all the meals (mostly from scratch, I’m proud to say). I own a small business that does well enough to support us – with…
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Why single moms should disclose their income in online dating
Should you include your income in your online dating profile? I have been of two minds on this question — and came to the conclusion: Yes. After a divorce, I’ve been single for five years, actively dating for four. When I first ventured out into the new-again world romance, first on Match.com, later on OKCupid,…
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A letter to my beautiful, beautiful, beautiful daughter
Originally posted 2013 Dear Helena, One day when you were a baby, Aunt Tina and I were smooching all over you. After all, what’s better than kissing a baby – all that smooth, perfect skin, those rolls of fat, all that love that just oozes out of them? Kisses and kisses and kisses. “We’re giving…
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A time management expert gave me a time makeover
My world was rocked by a recent New York Times piece about Mary Wells Lawrence, the iconic 1960s female advertising exec on whom Mad Men’s Peggy is roughly based. Yeah, it was pretty cool that this chick from Ohio blew into New York and started an ad agency in 1966 that billed $39 million in…
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Free dinner for single moms?
A few months ago I attended a little dinner party to celebrate my then-boyfriend’s birthday. The scene: two couples at a known Greenwich Village Italian restaurant where the food is about 62 percent as good as the pricetag would suggest, but the remaining 38 percent can be justified by the frequent celebrity sightings and the…
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Tips for dating a single mom (12 things NOT to say)
I go out with single dads and childless men alike, and some of the latter admit (while others appear) to be uncertain about the logistics of dating a single mom. On one hand, Dude, we are just like other women! Proceed as normal! ==> See below: 12 things never to say to a single mom on…
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Dating coach: “Single moms are hot on the successful-men market”
I don’t run many guests posts, but happened upon Elliot Scott, a dating coach who had a lot of really smart things to say about men and women and how we can relate better. And he has a lot of experience coaching — not to mention dating! — single moms. I love, love, love his…
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Ladies, please post honest pics on your online dating profile, OK?
My friend Marc — a single dad my age — and I like to share dating war stories. Recently, he giddily kept me posted on the pre-first-date chemistry he shared with a woman he met online. “Extremely promising,” he texted me. “We talk every night on the phone and it is frightening how much we…
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Dating as a single mom is the same as dating as a teenager
Sunday morning I had brunch with my brother Josh and sister-in-law Susan. They’re in their early 30s, don’t have kids, stay out late, and sleep in on weekends. In other words: They’re normal. Susan grilled me about my date from the night before while my little brother pretended he’d lost his hearing. “We went…
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Did your divorce story start with, “I knew he was the one!” ??
I wrote this a few years ago, and I so stand by it today. It came to mind when speaking with a 40-year-old, never-married friend who was recounting her recent dating exploits. It so resonated when she detailed the horrors of an otherwise promising man’s foibles: one failed to bring enough cash to the cash-only…
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I don’t live for my kids — that is my biggest gift to them
I recently overheard a mother proudly declare: “I live for my daughter.” Too bad for that little girl. And too bad for the mom. Parents who make their children the center of their universes mess up their kids, mess up themselves, and in the case of single parents — make serious relationships impossible. Don’t get…
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Erin Lowry: Personal finance for Millennials
Other ways to listen: iTunes ♦ Stitcher ♦ TuneIn ♦ SoundCloud ♦ Google Play First of all, how random that my colleague Erin Lowry, leading expert on Millennials and their money and author of the book Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together, and fellow money blogger, lives across the street from me in…
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Easy trick to forgive your ex (and anyone else you’re angry at)
Ever feel like your beef with someone – maybe with an ex, or even a friend or a boss – is getting to your head? Maybe you feel the negative effects of a grudge sending you spinning, weighing you down. I’ll admit it. I have a very active mental life, emotional life, creative life,…
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