We all know, as women, that giving in a relationship is a part of our very nature. But did you know that it is this very trait that can sometimes drive a man away? Not that being a giving person is not a good thing, but in the beginning stages of a relationship, it can signal to the man that you are just a little “easier” to catch than you might want to appear.

The key to breaking this cycle and keeping a relationship going is to appear just a bit more aloof than you would normally appear to the man you want to catch. Men love a challenge. They are competitive beings to their very core, whether or not they care to admit it. So one of the keys to sparking and maintaining a man's interest is to keep him, well, competing for you!

Here are five tips that any woman can use to keep the interest in her alive, and to maintain that edge over the man you are trying to snag. Relationship tip number one - break a date! I know, I know, you are DYING to go out with him. You finally got a date, you have been fantasizing about it all week, the big day is finally here, and I am telling you to do WHAT? Break it, girlfriend. Call him up an hour before you are supposed to go out and tell him, “Hey, I am SO sorry, but something really important has come up and I just can't go out tonight. I would love to reschedule this, maybe next weekend?” Be short, be abrupt, and be in a hurry. You will leave HIM hanging; leave him wondering all week just how into him you really are. Did he misjudge your interest? Maybe, just maybe, he needs to try a BIT harder to keep you on the line than he originally thought. (Big smile!)

Tip two - on the date, when you finally get to it, and he starts asking you questions about your life - be enigmatic. Answer him playfully, giving him obviously made up answers when he asks you mundane things like where you work, “Oh, I work for NASA. I train flight monkeys to pilot the space shuttle just in case the human beings aboard succumb to the Moon Fever” or something far-out like that. It will keep him on his toes, wondering what you will say next and enjoying every minute of it. It will also keep him wondering what you are REALLY like, and what he has to do to find out.

Tip three - don't kiss him! That's right - I said don't kiss him. When he zooms in for that goodnight kiss on your doorstep or in the car before he drops you off, glibly turn your cheek and “allow” him to plant one on you. Then pat him on the face and tell him he has to work a little harder than that, and to call you so you can go out again sometime.

Tip four - when he calls - don't be there. Don't answer the phone; don't return his call that day. Let him be the ninny sitting by the phone waiting for YOU to call him back. Wait a few days and call him back, or wait a few days if he calls you again and answer. And don't apologize for not being there when he called. Act like it was nothing; you will keep him wondering just how important he is to you after all.

Dating tip number five - and this is a mach Daddy tip, girls - don't give it up. And I mean - do not have sex with him!! Don't do it! Keep him wondering, waiting, dreaming, fantasizing and doing the lonely man shuffle until YOU cannot stand it one more minute. And then still wait a couple weeks. This way, you are calling the shots with your physical relationship, and he is not going to think what an easy “conquest” you were while he is out dancing with another girl next week.

Follow these tips, ladies, and you will have him eating out of the palm of your hand. You have to make yourself the bait in order to catch the man of your dreams. If he gets the “reward” too soon, he will simply move on, looking for another tasty nibble somewhere else before too long. If you can keep him hooked, before he knows what hit him, you will have him reeled in and in the net. Catch Him, and Keep Him!