There have been enough encounters with women on dating apps who never revealed they had children, and ended up having children, for you to feel the need to take precautions.
This particular woman that you have been chatting with has been great so far.
The conversations have been electric and she matches your personality in a good number of areas.
But you don’t want to get too excited about her, given that she doesn’t state that she has children in her dating profile.
You are worried about whether she is hiding that detail.
Women on dating apps aren’t stupid.
You know that several are aware that stating they have children in their dating profile makes them less likely to get matches.
She naturally wants to increase her odds of getting as many quality matches as possible, and you know that there are women who purposely omit the fact that they have children so as to increase their pool of matches.
With this in mind, you don’t want to go any further with this match until you have asked her about whether she has children.
As much as you have enjoyed your conversations with her so far, you are worried about letting this go on for too long, and being left disappointed in the event you learn she has had children all along.
This being said, you want to do it respectfully.
You don’t have the nerve to directly ask her about whether she has children.
Since you are so worried about this, there is a way you can do it respectfully, without guilt.
All you have to do is bring up a topic that has children as a centerpiece.
Although you don’t have children of your own, you have nephews, nieces, cousins, godchildren, etc.
These are children you have an emotional connection to and have affection for.
Tell her an interesting story about one of them that is fun to listen to.
Naturally, when you are telling an interesting story about a child relative that is close to you, it opens the door to the subject of children.
Once you are done with the interesting story about a child relative, ask her about whether she has had a similar experience with a child relative.
She should respond with her own interesting story about a child relative, and this is where there is an opening for her to mention her own children in tandem, if she has any.
Naturally, a woman who has children of her own mentions them in some capacity if she is talking about a child nephew, niece, cousin, godchild, etc.
There is an emotional bond she shares with these child relatives that makes her seamlessly segue into talking about her own children.
If she doesn’t bring up her own children in connection to her anecdote about a child relative, there are strong odds she doesn’t have children.
Should this not be enough for you, there is something else you can do.
When you are done telling your anecdote about a child relative, say something like, “Emma is my godchild, but she has a knack for knowing what buttons to push to get what she wants from me. Are your children like that?”
Right there, you have drawn a parallel between your godchild and her supposed children that comes off as a seamless segue.
In a world where she doesn’t have children, she will respond that she doesn’t without a moment’s hesitation.
In a world where she does have children, she will respond by giving you an anecdote about her child that is similar to your anecdote about your godchild.
Now you know, and you never had to ask her whether she has children directly.