Dating for Parents Review
Dating for Parents Ratings
Summary: Nothing much in the way of catering specifically to parents and needs more active members.
2.8
When we first reviewed Dating For Parents a few years ago it used to be a dating site catering specifically to the unique needs and concerns of single parents. It was quite a serious site mainly targeted for those in search of a long-term relationship. Then it got taken over by Cupid.
Well, talk about rebirths! Dating For Parents now caters for pretty much everyone – whether you’re looking for marriage material, a one night stand, some flirty fun or even just friendship or social contact – it’s all there. At least in theory.
Is it different to any other dating site?
When you sign up, it becomes instantly evident that this isn’t just a place for single parents. First of all, there are many dating sites that don’t advocate married people or those already in a relationship to join up (there are special sites for that kind of dating!) and so they don’t even include these options in their relationship status drop-down menu. But here you can also mark down if you are married or cohabiting and even unhappily married is an option.
You can specify your interests before completing your profile, and it’s just as legitimate a place for finding some online flirting and easy dating as it is for finding a future partner for life. You can mark immediately what kind of a relationship you’re looking from here – be it friends or something romantic or something flirty and naughty.
Of course, members without kids are also accepted on this site, don’t be fooled by the name. Except for the domain name itself, children are not really referred to in any other context on this site, except the usual – whether you’ve got any children and/or you want to have children.
It’s also interesting that you can specify already when creating a profile whether you’re here to see and be seen or just to see yourself. There’s a feature where you can mark whether you want to be introduced by the system to possible matches or no. Might be a good thing if you’re one of those people who likes to window-shop first and not get down to business right away.
Another new thing that they’ve recently introduced is a chance to record and upload a video right there and then – before you’ve even started to write up your profile. I sort of see the point behind that – people these days just sign up at dating sites without really bothering to write very much about themselves. After all, isn’t it easier to just record a video of yourself and get everything important said in 2 minutes? Well, it is and it isn’t.
Considering the amount of bad selfies that people take on their webcams and/or smartphones, just imagine the quality of videos that could be uploaded! Not to speak of the way you look and sound. Always remember what Monica used to say in “Friends”: Camera adds 5 pounds! Seriously though, unless you feel super confident and look really good in poor light, we advise against video messages as a general introduction. If you catch someone’s eye and you want to chat, then you’re bound to video chat anyway sooner rather than later. We browsed around on the site and didn’t actually see many people who had uploaded a video as an introduction.
Setting up your Profile & Searching on Dating For Parents
The search is huge and extensive and all the different options really make you a bit dizzy and disorientated – quick search with just the basic options and advanced search that allows you to find exactly what you’re looking for – provided a man or a woman like that exists in their database. You can search by new members, new members who have been added on the same day, you can perform a postcode search, you can look for those who are online just now, you can search amongst those you’ve marked as friends…. the options are all there.
If search isn’t quite enough for you, there’s also an option to attract the attention of hundreds of users. It’s something called Flirtcast – a message that allows you to write a personal ‘advertisement’ and then send it to hundreds of potential matches, based on your default search.
Creating a profile also has all kinds of different features and add-ons you can use to make yourself sound more interesting and stand out. However, the design and structure for the site might be a little confusing. The site could do with a little redesign to make it more user-friendly and free it from unnecessary clutter.
The profiles are kind of a mix – they seem fun enough but are not very informative. It depends how much trouble one goes through and how much work you’re prepared to put in. Bear in mind that all the profiles can be rated by users and you yourself can also rate other people’s profiles. Or you can turn the rating off, should you so wish.
You can add photos, which you don’t want to be seen by everyone and mark them as ‘private’ and then make them visible to those users who you wish to see them. Similarly, there’s an option to request to see other user’s private photos.
A few years ago we noticed some suspicious behaviour on the site when even before you had finished with your profile and hadn’t even uploaded a photo yet, you were already contacted by some member via the site’s email. Of course, in order to read emails, you had to be a paid member – these things used to raise suspicions (and you can read more about it here). Fortunately they seem to have gotten rid of such dubious practice for now, we didn’t witness that any longer.
Once you’re interested in an user, it’s very easy to get in touch – basically you don’t need to go to your mailbox and leave the person’s profile, you can just send an email right from there, there’s a special box designated for that purpose – but of course, you can only send mails if you’re a paying member. Unless you’re sending them to a VIP user, which means they have purchased a package that lets them to be contacted by everyone, even free users. There are also many icebreaker options available, as well as ‘send a smile’ – these are free to use for everyone.
Extras and Features
A great device is the ‘your activity’ window on the upper left corner of the site, showing clearly the new messages you’ve received, the number of viewers who have been on your page and the people who have added you as their favourite.
There is an online chat-tool that paid users cans access very easily. Once you find your match, you will then immediately see if (s)he is online and available to chat. With just one click you can then open the pop-up window with their online chat software and be talking to your match within just seconds. There’s also the video profile tool, which enables you to make a short introduction of yourself and upload it as a little video. There’s also a secure text chat option, which enables you to chat on your mobile, without revealing your phone number.
A totally new feature on the site is something that a lot of dating sites have recently introduced – events. Powered by SpeedDater.co.uk it basically lets you find singles’ events near you – anything from speed dating to singles parties, so-called ‘lock and key’ parties to activity events, food and wine tastings etc.
Dating for Parents Review: Free vs Paid site
Free users don’t get to do much on this site – basically it’s just sign up, create your profile and browse around. Paid members however get to send/receive messages, create a video profile, and use the chat. They have a three-day trial which costs less than a quid a day, so you can test it all out before signing up for a longer period.
Pros and Cons
The price is cheaper than most and you can even sign up for three days for just £2.97.
The way the site is designed is a little confusing and outdated. Also, despite the name it is not actually geared specifically for parents.
And that’s a wrap for our Dating for Parents review, good luck if you give it a try!
About the Author
Aet Suvari has been reviewing and writing about the world of online dating since 2008 and the launch of Online Dating Help. A stickler for promoting ethical practices within the UK dating industry she champions the sites that get it right while highlighting those holding it back. You can follow her on Google+
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