Have you ever Googled your date? 

Recently, I posted about Dating Sites for Single Moms and you had a lot to say (thanks!). As promised, Karen from Online Dating is back. Remember: this woman wrote her entire dissertation at the University of Southern California on that topic exactly: “Online Dating.”

“Just how does a single mom get online and start dating?” Karen asks.

“Since I do not have any children myself, I passed this question onto my 23 year old sister whose husband had left her two years ago. She has two children. She works two jobs to make ends meet. She told me that after the divorce — and healing process, which took about a year — she decided to put herself back out on the proverbial market. She got together with some girlfriends and started going out to bars and clubs on a semi monthly basis. She told me that she met tons of guys who ‘just adored children’… but seemed to be out for a one-night stand only.”

“Match.com and Yahoo! Personals were next for her. While she did meet some nice guys, they just weren’t what she was looking for. Her main concern was the safety and well-being of her children so she made this very clear from the get-go that she had a responsibility to them first.”

“How does a single mom safely date online?”

“Be on your toes at all times and trust your instinct. If you meet a potential match online, make it clear to him that you have children and they are your priority in life.”

“You can also ‘research’ the men you are talking to. One good way is to get their email addresses and any other personal information you can (without sounding like you are probing). Take his email address and go to Google and enter it in. You would be surprised at the quantity and quality of information you can find out about someone by just Googling his email address. If his email address does not turn up any matches in Google, then try deleting the “@….com” part.”

“For example: If the email address is “greatdad123@aol.com,” then you would take out the ‘@’ part and see what ‘greatdad123' would produce in a search. If the guy you are talking to is not Internet savvy, then his entire online life could be presented to you for your review. Chat forum postings, eBay listings, personal websites….anything and anywhere that this person has entered his email address in, chances are Google will pick it up.”

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Single mamas, do tell: Have you ever Googled a man before a date?

P.S. Over the past few years, I’ve never gone out on a date until I’ve Googled him first! Of course, I’ve had the tables turned, when he has Googled me, too. Oh boy.