Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man

make some kind of verbal or, especially, physical commitment
to him, and then finally drag him to the house only to find out
he doesn’t like your kids, and your kids don’t like him. You’ve
gone and got this guy all hot and bothered thinking you’re
some sexy vixen who’s fun and interesting and wild and willing
and able to swing from chandeliers, and once you walk into
your living room, he’s tripping over Tonka trucks and mashing
crayons into the carpet while your kids are begging for potato
chips, crying loudly, and telling you the baby’s diaper needs
changing? This is not a good situation, ladies. Not a good situ-
ation at all. In fact, the introduction is late—much too late.
See, a man needs to be able to see what all he’s going to be
responsible for up front; if he sees you in the role as a mother,
he’s going to immediately try to figure out if he sees himself in
the role as a father. He’s going to evaluate if he can afford those
children, if he wants to be bothered with the drama that comes
when a baby’s daddy is likely lurking in the background, whether
he can handle any animosity that might come his way when the
kids get wind of him, and, finally, if he wants to play second
fiddle to the children, whose needs you surely will meet many
moons before his—all of these things and then some will be
taken into account. And if you hold back key information he
needs to assess his potential life together with you, and pop it
on him when he’s not expecting it, he’s not going to receive the
information well—plain and simple. In fact, he’s likely to think
he was duped—duped into thinking he had one woman, when