Basic Trope: Single parents have a hard time getting dates.
- Straight: Bob, who's raising his son Charlie alone after the death of his wife Alice, usually only gets through one or two dates with a woman before she finds out about Charlie and splits.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob can't even get a date in the first place, because the women inevitably find out about Charlie and don't want even to have a romantic conversation with a single father.
- Every character who is a single parent is rejected.
- Downplayed: ???
- Justified:
- The women Bob dated hate children.
- The women who Bob dated are childfree and aren't really interested in parenthood.
- The women Bob has dated don't want to raise any children who were born from a previous marriage.
- Inverted:
- Bob has to beat off women wanting a date with him, because they're so attracted to him once they find out he's a devoted single parent.
- Bob has a hard time dating women because they learn he doesn't want to have children.
- Subverted: Bob asks Diane out on a date. They have a few dates before she finds out about Charlie and gives Bob the Let's Just Be Friends talk...but it turns out she turned him down because she was afraid she had been taking the relationship too fast, not because of Charlie.
- Double Subverted:...But later they have a few more dates, taking the relationship slower this time, but Diane still eventually ends the relationship because of Charlie.
- Parodied: Alice is attracted to Bob, but when she learns he has a son named Charlie, Alice screams and runs away as if she has seen a ghost.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob tries to get a date with three women. Diane lasts a few dates before finding out about Charlie and giving Bob the Let's Just Be Friends talk, but it was because she's afraid she's taking the relationship too fast. Later they go on another few dates, but Diane ultimately ends the relationship because of Charlie. The next time she contemplates asking Bob for a date, she finds that he's dating Eva, who asked him out after discovering what a good father he is to Charlie.
- Averted: No single parents appear in the work.
- Enforced: The author wants the focus to be on Bob and Charlie's father/son relationship, not romance.
- Lampshaded:Bob: I'm sweet; I'm cute; I'm witty, but I'm a single father, so I still can't get a date.
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Alice is perfectly fine with her boyfriend having a child and might even get along with Charlie.
- Discussed: "I have no idea why people don't want to date single parents. It's like they hate children or something."
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Bob becomes depressed when he realizes that he will never find any women.
- Reconstructed: Bob decides to get his mind off of women and focus on raising Charlie the best way he can. Soon enough, he meets a woman who is interested in children and they eventually marry and live happily together with Charlie.
Wait, you're connected to Single Parents Are Undesirable? I don't know if I'm ready for a trope with subpages.
