Re: Would you let your kids have a ‘relationship’ before marriage?
Ditto.
I’d also encourage my child to ‘research’ their potential partner via their friends/social circles (maybe friends outings).
I think there’s a fine line between getting to know someone who you think is a great partner for your child, and allowing your child to date openly. With parents approval it’s a serious one as a child will be expected to answer to their parents e.g. how did the meeting go, what is he like, what do they plan to do/where do they plan to settle etc etc. Plus, if the potential partners family are involved it’s not like plan old dating whereby there’s no serious factor to it.
Does that make sense?
Also, to answer OP’s other question, nope didn’t do the dating thing before I got married. Don’t regret it at all.
One of my former close friends did the dating thing and it kinda proved a nightmare when she wished to find a man to marry. She was always comparing one to another, to another. Blergh, too much headache!