Dating Safety Tips

When you talk to older people about “the good old days,” they’ll all tell you that things have really changed over the years when it comes to safety. Teens used to date by having a milk shake at the local ice cream shop, or going to a movie and having a hamburger before or after. No one worried so much about things such as date rape, kidnapping and murder because you happened to have agreed to go out with the wrong person. The biggest worries back then were not getting caught at the local Lover’s Lane or missing curfew.

These days, there are so many things to take into consideration when dating someone new. This becomes especially serious when you factor in that there is now online dating and simply carrying over an online connection into a real world meeting can have risks. There are now very real concerns when it comes to dating. This is particularly true with online dating. You should always remember that people can be whoever or whatever they want to be on the Internet. They don’t have to be truthful. The only thing they have to do is to convince someone they’re interested in that they are who they say they are.

Therefore, one of the first things you may want to do if you’re thinking about dating someone you’ve become acquainted with online is make sure that they’re who they say they are. This can be done several ways. One of them is to have them checked out through a private investigator. This is a rather reliable way of ensuring that someone isn’t trying to pull a fast one on you but it can also be rather costly. There are also online services that help you check out someone that are maybe less reliable but are more affordable and better than not checking at all.

Another method you may employ is chatting with them by webcam. In this way, you can at least see them and be able to see what they look like. If you’re good at reading people, seeing them face to face in this way may help you tell if they’re being truthful with you about who they are. Granted, this doesn’t ensure that you’re completely safe but at least you know a little more about who you’ve been chatting with.

If you do decide to meet face to face, always meet the person somewhere. Don’t be giving out directions to your home right away. This first meeting should take place in a very active location with plenty of people around.  You may also want to consider taking a friend with you the first time so that it’s clear that someone knows where you went and who you met there.

If this meeting goes well, and you feel as if you’re comfortable setting up another date, take some more precautions and make sure that your date knows you’re doing so. They may not be thrilled with your safety tactics but they should understand. If they get unreasonable about it, you have every reason to be suspicious and cut off all contact with them.

Basically, use your common sense as well as any intuition you may have, and you should be fine.

Dealing with Interfering Parents

Parents are meant to look after you and keep you safe. Their job is also to make sure that you grow up to be smart enough to make good decisions for yourself and your life. If they do their job well, then they can safely release you into the world to live your life the way you see fit. This includes choosing the best partners. When your parents let you go, they should trust you to do what’s best for you. However, for many parents, that’s just impossible to do.

These are the parents that you’re literally terrified to take home your latest guy to meet. They tend to always do something that will either embarrass you to death or scare the guy off. Sometimes they manage to do both.

Your father may want to fire questions at your guy about his past, present and what he plans to do in the future. Worse yet, he may actually ask that horrible question of what this guy’s intentions are where you’re concerned. This is always the one that can make you want to crawl into the woodwork.

Your mother may decide that no one is good enough for you nor will there ever be anyone that is. This means that she’s most likely going to find many ways to keep you near her and away from men. Sadly, these are the mothers whose daughters don’t get a chance to live their own lives until the mothers have crossed over into the great beyond. These are unhealthy relationships and certainly don’t help the daughters to have the normal lives they’re meant to have.

Whether or not your parents act like this or worse, there are some ways that you can deal with the situation other than just living on the other side of the world from them and pretending that you’re not in a relationship of any kind. You need to prepare your guy for his first meeting with your parents. This may or may not be simple to do depending on his personality. If he’s understanding, you’ll be able to explain all about your parents to him and he’ll simply follow your lead. If he’s a bit of a wimp, he’ll probably run away as soon as you’ve explained what your parents are like. In that case, it is better that you know now.

Next, talk to your parents. Let them know in no uncertain terms that you won’t tolerate them treating your new guy any way that’s disrespectful. Give them a list of what they may and may not ask him. Warn them that if they do anything to deliberately embarrass you that it will be the last time they ever get to meet another one of your boyfriends. Then, remind them that they have raised you to have good judgment and that they need to trust that you’re using it when selecting the men you date.

When you’ve explained everything to them, that gives them the chance to do the right thing and make you proud by welcoming your new guy into their home. Otherwise, they’re showing you that you have no option but to keep them away from the men in your life.