The grief generated by a divorce is about shattered dreams and concepts. It's very natural to process through the stages of grief, because your marriage has died. Once you've taken the appropriate amount of time for you to process the grief, it might now be time to consider dating again. Keep your children at the top of the considerations list as you prepare to enter into the dating game again.

First of all, you need to assess how long you have been divorced. Has it been a month, six months, a year? There is no special or more-right period of time that is "best" for beginning to date. The only people that you need to consider when making this decision are your children. I'm not saying that you need to ask their permission; they might not be accepting of the idea for a while. I'm just saying that it is your job to assess the situation. How have they been acting? Do they ask you about finding some one new? How old are they? Are they youngsters who don't have a complete grasp on what has happened because of the divorce, or are they older children who do know?

Second of all, you need to figure out your approach. If you do start dating, are you going to be open about it or keep it a secret from your children until you find some one that you want to be serious with? I have seen people take both of these paths. In my opinion, being open from the start is better. You may be opposed to this at first, but it really does ease them into the whole process. When a parent keeps it from them and all of a sudden is like "WHAM! This is my new boyfriend/girlfriend.It's too much of a challenge for some kids to have to handle.

Third, you have to actually start dating! How is that going to happen? Are people already trying to fix you up? You might already have a twinkle in your eye for someone? Would you prefer to join some kind of dating service?

This should be an exciting time for you. It might be scary to put yourself out there because it's been a while, but you'll get into the swing of things quickly. It's good to get past the grief of your divorce, begin dating again and meet new people even if nothing develops romantically. You can never have too many friends to share time and conversation with.