Luck with dating while having young kids after divorce?
I am in the early stages of accepting that a divorce seems all but impossible to avoid... my heart is broken and I wanted this to work more than I've ever wanted anything in my life. I'm saddened for my kids who are going to have to more than likely experience this pain that they should not have to experience...
With that being said, I'm very much torn. We are living more or less as roommates which has been the case for a few years. We've tried to rebuild but she just seems like she doesn't really want to prioritize the marriage any longer and wants to achieve her own personal goals/have space. This isn't really how I want to continue to live and have really run out of steam for spending all of my energy/time trying to make someone else happy who doesn't return even 10% of that.
I do wonder though, has anybody had luck dating with young kids after divorce as a male in your mid 30s? It feels like I'm sort of stuck between deciding if I want to really find the person I'm SUPPOSED to be with for the rest of my life or stay living with a roommate until the kids are moved out in ~15 years... but I also worry that maybe I'm just extremely undesirable now and it's for the best to not worry about my own feelings of wanting to be loved and just sit tight.
I'm a decent looking guy, very educated/good job, and really lean/fit, and have lots of goals/etc... feel like I'm a "catch" but who would ever want to be with a guy who has 3 young kids (all under 8 years old) that have to come first when I would have them?
Posted Feb 26, 2026, 1:59 PM UTC