Listen up first daters and future daters! We are here to save your first date from those long awkward silences and emotionally charged conversations.
We’ve compiled the ultimate list of conversation topics to avoid when you go out with cutie from the apartment next door for drinks.
Men and women should heed these warnings equally and strive to improve your first date game.
9 Awkward Topics to Avoid Talking About on a First Date
1. Past exes.
Let’s not go down Depressing Failed Relationships Road, shall we?
2. Anything to do with your menstrual cycle or other bodily functions.
No one needs to know how much you’re cramping right now. Even fellow girls don’t need to hear it all the time. And guys, leave the bodily function references and humor in the toilet.
3. The attractiveness of her mother/How cool his dad is.
We don’t care if you’re trying to gauge how we are going to age; it’s never a good idea to comment on our moms. And guys often have complicated relationships with their fathers, so leave him out of it as well.
4. Weird places you’ve had sex.
Whether it was on the beach, on a Ferris wheel, on the International Space Station, we don’t want to hear it. on a first date. We might want to get freaky with you one day, but not yet. This applies to men and women! Keep it together, kids.
5. How much you can drink.
Rare is the person who is impressed by their date being able to drink them under the table. It’ll just make you look questionable.
6. Asking if he or she would be up for a threesome.
Great way to get walked out on, is all I’m saying.
7. Planning a future together.
You haven’t even had your appetizer; slow down and try not to freak your date out by asking where you see you two and your four kids living in ten years.
8. Politics.
This can be a powder keg for some people. You might be a steadfast liberal while he or she is a confirmed conservative. You can find a way to make that work down the line, but on the first date, a passionate topic like that can send them running into the night. Also included under this umbrella is abortion. It is a tender subject for some people, so use good judgment and steer clear.
9. Racist/Sexist/Demeaning jokes.
No. Just, no. Never. Not first date, not second date, not anytime, anyplace ever, gross. If this is your idea of humor, you might want to do some self-work before entering the dating arena.
Remember, it’s not that hard to have a successful first date. Just be your funny, kind awesome self, and all will be well.
Kristen Droesch is a writer, editor, and librarian who writes about love and relationships.
