subject: Stay Safe With These Free Dating Tips [print this page] Stay Safe With These Free Dating Tips Stay Safe With These Free Dating Tips
You have finally decided to give online dating a whirl and are pretty excited to see what happens. After briefly considering spicing up your profile, you decide that if you are really going to try this online dating thing, you might as well be who you really are. You post your most flattering picture and wait.
A couple of days later, you have a message in your inbox from a guy named Dan. From the start, Dan sounds like someone you would want to know better. After exchanging two or three emails at the free email account you set up especially for your online dating correspondence, you decide to meet. While Dan may just be your average nervous guy looking for love, he may just as easily be a perverted weirdo for all you know. Before you meet up with Dan, you need to take a look at these free dating tips for staying safe.
Look Him Up
Prior to your first date, look around online and see what you can find out about this person. What do his profiles on social networking sites look like? Are they consistent with his dating profile? If you have friends who know him, ask them what they think of him. Listen to your gut feeling. If it is giving you signals to cancel the date, do so.
Set Your Own Standards
Decide what kind of behavior is acceptable on a first, second or third date. You should establish your limits very clearly. This is one of the most helpful things to avoid acquaintance assault. Keep your first date fairly short and meet at a public place, such as a coffee shop, take separate cars to get there and split the bill.
Inform Your Family
Let your mom or a friend know where you are going and when you expect to be home. If you do not arrive and have not called to say you will be late, your family will be much more able to quickly find you if they know where you are going.
Privacy Is A Good Policy
You are meeting a stranger. It is important to keep that in mind. You are not obligated to tell your date anything that you would not tell another stranger simply because you are on a "date." If you are truly a match, there will be plenty of time for him to find out about more private information. Your home address and phone number should stay private. Children add another layer to the online dating experience. You are responsible for keeping your children's private information, such as where they go to school, safe, too.
If Your Date Is A Creep
If you find yourself in a situation where your date is pressing you to do things you do not want to do and will not take no for an answer, get up and leave. You do not owe this person any explanation. If he follows you to the car and will not leave you alone, go back into the building and call 911. If a date has ended badly, and you notice that your he is following you as you drive home, change your route and drive to the police station instead. Do not drive directly home if you are being followed.
Odds Are In Your Favor
Chances are that your date will go just fine. Most dates arranged online usually do. Even so, it is very important that you take safety precautions by following these free dating tips just to be on the safe side. And, if your date is Mr. Right (or even Mr. Maybe), he will not have a problem with you having boundaries.
