First Date Spoilers: What to Never Talk About on a First Date

A first date can be an exciting experience, but it can also lead to some very awkward conversations if you’re not careful.  When you are on your next first date, keep the following topics in mind as you sit there at the romantic restaurant or bar, and try to avoid them if possible.

Exes

Never talk about exes.  Talking about your ex, either in a positive or negative light, gives the impression that you’re still interested in them.  This goes for asking questions about your date’s exes, too.  On a first date, unless you are curious to know if he/ she really is single, it’s best to leave exes out of the equation altogether.

Health Problems

Don’t discuss any of your health issues on a first date, as these are private matters.  Unless you are stricken with a terminal illness or other grave disease that a potential love interest should know about, complaining about your neck pain or hand pain isn’t attractive and may make your prospective partner think you’re a whiner.

Online Dating

Never talk about your online dating experiences, even if you met your date online. It should be fairly clear that you haven’t been completely successful, or you wouldn’t be out on this date in the first place.

Money

Never talk about money on a first date.  Whether you are loaded or struggling to make ends meet, keep your finances to yourself.  Those will be revealed in time.  Plus, if you are pretty well off, you don’t want to think for the rest of the evening that this is why your date is showing so much interest in you.

Pets

Little fluffy Fido may be the love of your life, but talking about your pets may not be interesting for your date.  In fact, your date may not really like dogs/ cats/birds/ lizards, so until you get to know each other better, it’s best to just focus on you.

Religion

Religion can be a polarizing topic, and it can cause people to dislike one another without ever getting to really know the other person. If sharing a religion is your number one priority in a love interest, then yes, you should let your date know. If it’s not, it’s best not to bring it up on a first date.

Politics

Along the same line as religion, discussing politics should be avoided.  However, just like religion, if your political beliefs strongly influence your life and need to be the same for your partner, then it’s best to discuss this early on in the relationship.

Business

Business is another topic that you don’t want to discuss on a first date.  It can be boring, or even worse, the other person could be more interested in your business than in you, and may start to see you as a connection or leg-up in their line of work.

Children

While you may love to have some, or love the ones you have, children are not good conversation fodder for a first date.  You can talk about them a little, but not so much that your date feels left out.  If you don’t have any children, the word “child” should not ever come out of your mouth on a first date.

Family

While it’s important to establish some history about yourself, which will inevitably include some talk about your family, it’s best not to delve in too deeply about your family relationships, whether they are good or bad.  Like many other topics, this will come out in time.  For a first date, make sure to just focus on you.

While these are topics that you should avoid as much as possible, don’t be too secretive if they happen to come up.  Instead of dodging questions from your date or trying to cover them up, try to answer them in short but honest answers, and then move on to another subject.