Just got off a Tinder date.... with a single mom.

There was no clue at all that she was a mom. No reference to her two daughters, no picture, no hint, nothing whatsoever. We texted each other for an entire week before we could find a compatible date night. Then we have a great conversation in a local bistro for over two hours. I really thought she had no baggage. Then two hours after I ordered drinks and tapas, she drops the bombshell, :

  • She has two daughters and she is divorced

Me: (in my head) FUCK!!! Need to GTFO, stat!! Okay... try to not make it a big deal and just bail out.

Me: Oh really...? I had no idea...

Her: Yeah, well, I share custody with my ex. It's no biggie. I just wanna be upfront and transparent about it.

Me: Well, it IS a pretty big factor... we're talking about two human beings....

Her: (appearing slightly uneasy) Yeah, I know, that's why I'm mentioning it to you. I mean, you didn't ask about it.

Me: Right... I mean there was nothing about it on your profile. Some girls have a picture of a child in their profile, if that's the case, I do ask, is that their child, a nephew, or something...

Her: Yeah, I don't want to post a picture of my children on Tinder, I think it's to respect their privacy. That why I'm mentioning it upfront to you, because some guys are shocked when they learn it.

Me: Well yeah, it be pretty surprising. I'm surprised you didn't mention it in your profile.

AWKWARD SILENCE / nervous laughter from mom

Me: Anyway, I can understand why it must be hard to just mention it in your profile. But personally, it makes things too complicated for me. That's just not something I'm ready to deal with at this point in my life.

Then about 10 more minutes of small talk, she asks to go to the bathroom, I ask for 2 bills, pay mine and when she comes back I say it's getting late and I gotta go.

FUCK. I knew there are a lot of single moms on Tinder, but fuck. Usually there are a lot of hints that they are single moms before we even meet, like a picture, a word on it, or a reference in their text messages. But her? None, whatsoever.

Does this mean I need to ask EVERY single one of my Tinder matches if they are a single mom before spending time and money meeting them, now? Because that might be beta-thinking, but to me it sounds like it would display a lack of confidence and could work against me.

Edit: thank you everyone who pointed out the difference between "stat" and "stack". My bad.