Quote Originally Posted by possingk
I have been in the situation before I started dating my wife, the woman and I had an agreement, I would not meet the children until we had decided to take the relationship somewhere that required it. This was relatively easy because she has split custody with her husband, I don't know if that is your case. The nice thing is that it kept the relationship between her and i, when things didn't work out, I was breaking up with her not her and children I became attached to. We dated for about a year. We are still friends and I think I might have met the children a time or two, but it was always this is my friend. Just my eperience it may not work the same for you.
A very good friend of mine was in a similar situation. They dated for about 3-4 months before the children were introduced to the relationship regularly. This seemed to work for awhile. Unfortunately when they went a step further and moved in together, the relationship had more strain and ended up breaking up. A mothe ris very commited to her children and not taking that into account from the start can be a huge downfall. The child is part of who this woman is and ignoring that is not really getting to know this woman. Finding ways to enjoy and grow a relationship with a single parent is easy, but you have to do it from the begining.

The kid has likely already had some disappointment in their lives (mommy and daddy aren't together after all) so it won't tramatize him for life if you and his mother don't work out. Let her decide how to introduce the situation as she will know her kid better than anyone.