Dads

Actress Busy Phillips is starring in her latest project – a new holiday promotion for dating app Stir, which caters to single parents.

The campaign MILF on the SHILF campaign satirizes the popular Christmas tradition in many households with kids of “Elf on a Shelf,” but now with an adult twist. The goal is to help single parents have a little fun this holiday season and embrace their inner MILF or DILF (Mother or Father I’d like Fireside, according to the campaign).

The campaign features a video of Phillips in elf attire posing on a mantel, luxuriating in costume in a bath, and advocating for parents to take care of themselves this holiday season – instead of focusing all their attention on making sure the kids have a great holiday.

Match Group has announced the launch of its new dating app Stir, specifically designed for single parents looking to date.

The dating conglomerate which owns popular apps like Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid is expanding its suite of apps to focus on certain demographic markets with specific needs, such as single parents. The company found in its studies that many single parents have a hard time on traditional dating apps, and often get ghosted by other members when they say they have children.

"Having kids shouldn't be a dealbreaker when dating," Dinh Thi Bui, Vice President of New Verticals at Match Group, said in the company’s press release. Match Group also noted in its announcement that there are 20 million single parents in the U.S., and that they are often underserved on mainstream dating apps. 

Hinge is giving some love to single Moms this Valentine’s Day, offering $100 in childcare stipends so that they can make plans for a date.

According to the company’s press release, the popular dating app kicked off the campaign on Friday, February 4th ahead of Valentine’s Day. Users who have selected “Have Children” in their profiles will receive an opt-in notification at that time. To be eligible to receive the gift, those who opt in must also comment on someone’s profile that same day. The gift cards will be sent via email to each selected parent, according to the release.

The campaign is in partnership with French singer-songwriter Soko, who is also a single parent. Soko wanted to focus especially on the LGBTQ+ community and encourage discussions on “how to prioritize responsibilities as a parent while also making time to find someone special,” according to the release.

Are you wondering how to meet people over Facebook Dating? The easiest method is to focus on your interests and start joining groups through the dating app – you can connect with people who share those interests, and hopefully make a better match.

Facebook Dating offers groups for its users to join once they begin searching, making it a bit easier to find someone compatible with you. There’s no limit to the number of groups you can join, or how specific you want to be in your search. There are also a number of groups that offer tips and dating advice if you feel stuck or want to commiserate. If you want to find like-minded singles you can join niche groups like vegan daters, or if you’re not interested in narrowing your options too much, you can connect with others based on location.

Here are some popular groups that you might want to check out:

Dating is hard enough when you’re young, childless, and free from responsibilities. Add in a few more years, a child or two, and a whole lot more responsibility, and dating can feel impossible. There's an intense amount of pressure on single parents. When should you mention the kids? How should you bring them up? How long should you talk about them? You love your children, but do they mean you're doomed to be date-less forever?

The dating game is played a little differently after you have kids, but at its heart it's still the same game. You’ll fumble here and there, but if you keep these dating mistakes in mind, you’ll have a much easier time of reaching the goal.

Single Parent Dating Mistake #1: Avoiding the Internet.

Just because it’s what 'the kids are doing these days’ doesn’t mean it can’t be a thing you’re doing. Get with the times and get online. You probably already use the Web to watch movies, order clothes, learn skills, research interests, pay bills, and most anything else you can think of, so why not use it for dating too? More and more single parents are looking for connections on online dating sites, which means your odds of finding someone who’s open to the fact that you’re a single parent are even better than in real life. You could be just a few clicks away from starring in your own version of The Brady Bunch.

Single Parent Dating Mistake #2: ‘Woe is me’ syndrome.

Lots of single parents fear their single parent status means no one will be interested in them. Sure, it may change some minds, but those aren't the minds you want to be with anyway. You'd be surprised at how many people aren’t scared of the idea, so don't be afraid to date someone who isn't a parent themselves. Alternatively, you can look for other single parents like yourself, if that Brady Bunch idea sounded appealing. The only thing that guarantees you won’t find a date is having a bad attitude about it.

Single Parent Dating Mistake #3: Overdoing it.

Your children are the most important thing in your life and you would do anything for them, but they're definitely not asking you to make them your only topic of conversation. Your date should know you're a single parent, which is easily accomplished early on. If you’re using an online dating site, list it on your profile. If you are online dating but prefer to keep that info private, or aren't using a dating site at all, you can break the news via e-mail, text, phone call, or IM. Once you’re on an in-person date, kid talk should be kept to a minimum. Dates are about getting to know each other, not about your children’s little league games. In fact, challenge yourself to make it through at least two full days before sharing the details of your kids’ lives.

Take a look at our list of single parent dating sites to find a related service.

Online dating has been around for a while. And plenty of couples met over a dating website years ago, got married, and now have children. So it makes sense that one of the most established of these - Match.com - might want to prep the new generation when they start online dating. Why not use Mom and Dad as an example for what really works when it comes to love?

It’s not surprising the company is marketing to a new generation of online daters, considering the growth of the online dating industry. Last year, a report came out from a Harris poll that stated more than one in three American couples that got married between 2005 and 2012 met online.

Match.com was quick to jump on that study, touting its matching services for their own successful couples.

Match.com is one dating site that has stood the test of time, and managed to grow its user base over the years despite the onslaught of competition. This month the online dating giant announced its “MatchMade” Scholarship Contest, a $50,000 program open to kids of parents who met on Match. Launched over 19 years ago, Match claims it has led to more dates, more relationships, and more marriages than any other site. The company also says that over one million babies were “made” because of Match, so the company will continue to positively impact the lives of its members by offering a scholarship to the children of its success couples.

Match’s contest revolves around creative story-telling and social media sharing. The campaign kicked off with a video of young kids sharing their thoughts on everything from marriage to careers and college – but mostly about love and babies. The MatchMade scholarship contest is open to students between the ages of 13-20 nationwide, so it’s targeting an older demographic that will be ready for the dating pool soon.

To enter, students must submit a short video retelling their parents’ Match love story in a creative way - from their first messages exchanged on Match to the moment they knew they were meant for each other. Match will accept submissions through June 30, 2014, after which the company will select a group of finalists. In August, the public will choose the winner by sharing their favorite videos via Facebook and Twitter, and the winner will be awarded a $50,000 scholarship. The parents of the winner are part of the competition, too - they will be given $5,000 to put toward a getaway.

“Success on Match takes many forms, but of course there’s a special place in our hearts for the children involved in our members’ lives,” said Sam Yagan, CEO of Match. “By bringing their parents together, we’ve played a small role in the lives of more than one million MatchMade babies, and now with the MatchMade Scholarship Contest, we’re excited to extend that special relationship to helping those children pay for college.”