Hey Bros,

Hoping for some OLD advice/field reports from dudes ideally who were/are young single dads.

I'm 28, 6'1", above average face, 175 lb, cool career and hobbies and new to the scene after ex nuked the fam last year and have been recently dialing fitness/diet after neglecting it all my life (still got a couple more months of lifting to go before i'm happy with my body comp. I think) and have been experimenting with getting plates from OLD apps. I have a daughter who is 3 and I have 50/50 custody.

Phase 1: Hid that I had a kid completely (I keep my apartment very clean so you really dont know that a kid lives there half the week) and plated a girl for a few months before I eventually just told her I had a kid over text when she requested to follow me on insta (which has me and my kid in it). She had a strong reaction where she said I should have told her earlier to which I said - who really cares, if its a problem you are welcome to leave and she never brought it up again and kept seeing me until I broke up with her because I wasn't attracted anymore. I also had a ONS during this phase as well.

Phase 2: Hid that I had a kid on the app but would bring it up in person casually or over text very early on when discussing logistics (EX: cant on Tuesday, have daughter). 4/5 girls ghosted after first date in this category but 1 which I almost plated but it broke a week after we fucked which I think was a performance issue and some other stuff.

Phase 3: Added the "have kids" flag to my hinge because I didnt want to have any mental energy devoted to hiding/thinking about when to tell I have a kid but I think I overcorrected and my matches per day went from 3 to 0.

I have read here that girls don't tend to mind fathers but I don't believe that's the case for at least my age bracket so I'm thinking about going back to phase 1 until I'm hot enough that noone cares about me having a kid (in progress) or until girls stop wearing masks everywhere so I can see who is hot enough to be worth approaching/they arent scared of covid (i'm in a deep blue cuck state). I just want at least one decent looking plate that I can fuck once a week or so since I have quit porn and fapping since the performance issue I mentioned in phase 2, I don't want a relationship so I'm okay hiding the truth.

Does my plan to go back to Phase 1 make sense? Any advice bros who have been in a similar situation? love you guys.