Vetting doesn't have to be a long arduous task, the quicker you vet someone the less likely you are to invest time in someone who isn't worthwhile.

First you need to figure out what you are looking for, what values and morals you will not negotiate on and your future. This is so important as you cannot expect to vet well if you don't actually really know what you want, and it's fine if you don't it just means there's a little more work you need to do on yourself before you start dating.

Once you've worked it out, you then need to find potential dates, obviously a lot of us utilise OLD, so create a profile that heavily hints at what you are looking for, when you swipe read profiles. Look at their pictures (it's easy to tell the fuckboys from the men). At this stage I personally found that it was best to speak via app for 2 days, then swap to whataspp and speak for a day via that and then look to arrange a date. I had a 3 day turn around rate, you can't get much from texts in the great grand scheme of things. Arrange the date asap, I was a single mum, my time is precious, I refused to wait 2 weeks for a date and have that nonsense of texting daily. Not remotely interested.

Once the date is arranged there should be a phone call before, this is important. You can gauge a lot of information from a phone call, if you will get on, if he seems boring etc. Plus it gives you the oppurtunity to vet him in regards to what you're both looking for. If he has said he's looking for long term, ask him about it, clarify it and be silent, people will naturally fill the silence with more information.

On the date this is the crucial time to vet, don't be afraid to ask the big questions, he's already said he's looking for long term/family etc so throughout your regular conversation pick up on what he's saying and ask him to expand on it (for me this was important when it came down to things like family, life plans, goals etc). You can glean a lot of information by doing this, watch the way he speaks about the subject.

Speak about your mutual interests as well, make a note of the questions he's asking you, are they questions to understand you a little more deeper or are they superficial questions, check his mannerisms throughout as well (body language is an amazing indicator of interest etc).

After the date has ended go home, sleep and the following day think about the date, when you get home from a date you think was good you always look at it positively, sleep girl, sleep on it. Then rethink about it. Was he genuine, did everything he say match up with what he told you he was looking for? Was he a gentleman throughout?

DON'T EVER GO FOR DINNER ON THE FIRST DATE! If you realise pretty quickly that this potential man is not who he made out to be, why would you wanna waste time on him? Go for a few drinks or something similar on the first date. Yes I know that is associated with LVM but again, why would you wanna waste time on someone who you've realised quite quickly that it's a dead end? Save the meal for the second date.

I'd like to state that this is from my perspective as I am a little older (29) and have a child.