Dating my Daughter

Life and love are both fraught with possible pitfalls – just like a fiddler sitting atop a roof! In the film, set in Tsarist Russia in 1904, five sisters sing with a mixture of hope and trepidation

“Matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match. Find me a find. Catch me a catch!”

So matchmaking is nothing new. In fact it has been acceptable practice in Europe, including Britain, among the aristocracy for generations. How else could they preserve their wealth and status? At the other end of the financial scale, such as in rural communities, the matchmaker provided a useful resource where opportunities to meet the opposite sex were limited.
In today’s society singletons theoretically have ample opportunities through work or leisure to find their own potential partners. In fact, in western societies any involvement of parents in their childrens’ love lives may be seen as meddling at best or female oppression at worst. Furthermore, technology has made looking for love acceptable and easy. With a few key strokes you can now receive video, audio, instant messaging, e-mail and much more from anyone and everyone. This has worked for some but the technology doesn’t come with a magic magnifying glass so….
                                        LIARS MEET LIARS!
Now the search for love is turning full circle resulting in the rise of the “professional matchmaker”. Recently a 33 year old sales rep living in New York saved up for two years to hand over $10,000 (seriously!) to two high-end professional matchmakers. She had tried numerous dating services without success and decided to seek help. The matchmakers sign up eligible batchelors, who don’t pay to join the agency, to offer up to three blind dates with the women – who do! ($10,000!!!)
So should parents help their offspring meet partners? Why not? If you have a good relationship with your children and they have neither great expectations or objections – Why not? (If you had a child desperate for work experience and a friend with their own business surely you’d hook them up?)
In the Far East parental matchmaking is all the rage. Every Sunday, concerned parents and grandparents are taking “CVs” of their offspring and exchanging profiles in parks all over China. Similarly at sessions in Singapore parents are turning up in droves to find partners for their children aged from 25 to 45. So …….Why not?