The Hoboken Cafe 

Question for the group. One of my friends just told me that he chose to go on a blind date with a woman he met on AOL. She has two children and is divorced. Because of the night he proposed, she asked if she could bring her two kids to dinner with her so that she can go on the date - which otherwise is difficult for her to date. He said yes but then felt awkward about who is going to pay for who. He ended up paying for all and the blind date went "okay" - whatever that means.

If a man takes a woman out on a first date dinner and she has two kids, should he be responsible at all for the kids tab?

Oh, man . . . What was he thinking?! No, he is not responsible for her children.

What was she thinking?! I'm one who feels strongly that children should not be exposed to their parent's dating life. They shouldn't be exposed to it until it is actually becoming a serious thing. I don't think it's healthy for children to see their parents dating different people because they will think this is normal.

Next time she plans on going on a date, she should get a babysitter & meet him at the restaurant.

This is a trick question; he should have proposed other times until there was one where she could stash the kids. If that was not possible he should have said "oh well, good luck on the AOL dateline." Seems like an easy decision to me.

That said, she showed a breathtaking level of audacity by expecting him to pay. Something's rotten in Denmark. Your friend should run, not walk, from this trio.

Sounds like she was looking for a new Daddy and a free meal for the family.

Next time the kids come, tell them to bring their piggybanks.

He should have realized that the snow job was being set up once she asked if the kids could go on the date - hate to say it, but he put himself in that mess - no way I would have been surprised if the tab were dropped in my lap.

this woman should have tried to get a sitter or offered up a night she was free. maybe this woman ( kids & divorced ) wanted to see how serious this guy was and threw the kids in there to see what happens. maybe it was her way of testing to see if he could deal w/ it? deal w/ the fact she's got 2 kids. I can see that scaring guys away.

me, I probably would have paid for the whole deal but would have probably not agreed to the whole family tagging along for a first date. that's weird. but as you get older, this is how it is for some people, some people have more baggage, it's not like college or highschool anymore.

I have no idea what this woman was thinking. Bringing kids on a blind date is incredibly dumb. The other side to that is, how did she know that your friend wasn't a looney, she'd just met him on AOL. She doesn't sound like the brightest lightbulb but he should've known better then to accept.