Dating for Seniors

This page is about Dating for Seniors – and yes, the dating game of today IS a bit different than when many of us were playing it 30 or more years ago!

If you’re new to dating, then read on for some considerations before taking the dating plunge.

Are you a single senior looking for friendships? Maybe you’re looking for love after years of living alone following a divorce or the death of your spouse.

How do you get ‘back into the game’?

These and more are questions you may (and probably should be) asking yourself.

• How is dating at this stage of life different than when you were younger?
• What qualities are you looking for in a potential partner?
• What role do your finances play in a new relationship?
  
• What happens to your money and other property if you decide to marry?
  
• Should you marry? Where did you meet your new friend?
  
• At a party, volunteer event, sports bar, online, blind date (‘friend of a friend’) or some other place?
• Do you and your friend actually go on dates? What makes it a ‘date’ to you as opposed to just going out with a buddy?
  
• What do you do together?

The Family

Assuming things are getting a bit ‘serious,’ how do both of your families feel about the new relationship? Sometimes families are worried about you or the new relationship.

If they have objections, ask them to clarify. Sometimes love is truly ‘blind’ and others not so close may see important things you overlook.

Intimacy

• How important is intimacy for the two of you?
• If that’s not physically possible, in what other ways can you convey physical caring?

Where to Meet Someone

• Where are the really good places to meet other singles around your age?
• What about through volunteer activities?
• Are there church or other religious organizations with singles’ groups?
• Do you want to stay in your age group? (In this day and age, May/December relationships are becoming more common and accepted, even when reversed.)
  
• What about online dating sites, such as Match.com? Are they safe and reliable?
  
• What should you know in advance before logging on to one of them?
  
• What are some of the pitfalls of online dating?

Please contribute your senior dating story below. These adventures are shared to help you through your dating decisions, and to see that it’s possible to find friendship and even love again.

We’d love to hear about any tips, pitfalls, successes and just plain *great stories* you want to share!