Many parents who are single today have chosen to keep anyone from meeting their children until the relationship becomes serious, and it can often be a good thing for their partner and their offspring. It keeps everybody separated until it is plain the relationship has a good chance to work out in a positive way, and it keeps the children from becoming too attached to someone who might move on in the near future. For those who are eager to meet the children of their new partner to impress them positively, stretching relationship boundaries too early can backfire.
The bond between a parent and a child are often strong ones that resist interference, and that can be exactly how adding a new adult to their life might feel. They are unwilling to share their parent with another person, and they might decide to do whatever it takes to get rid of the person. The partner dealing with this issue could find it can manifest in many different ways, and each one can be more unreasonable than the last.
Practical jokes are often a good way for a youngster to test boundaries, and some of them can be quite rough. The first one might be an easy one of taking a set of keys and hiding them, but it could turn into a permanent loss if the joke is treated with discipline. Hurt feelings all around can be the result when a lack of understanding that it was a simple test leads to restrictions or time out for a child.
Dating someone with children can get much rougher as time goes on if they are not particularly welcomed, and losing keys will seem easy as they find their seat has been coated with glue or their silverware keeps hitting the floor. Pushing, shoving and all around yelling could also be the open salvos in a relationship that might see the beginning of the end when the children and significant other first meet.
