It's courteous for both sides to be aware of the reality of the situation, and remember there’s a difference between generosity and showing off.Don’t let her take advantage of you …Unless you want her to - which is fine, but only if you have expectations of a very short relationship.
There are enough hurdles to making a relationship work, however old you are, so why let age add more stress?
That “best behavior” should be the model, within reason, for the relationship going forward.
Certainly things change as dating evolves into a relationship, but let’s take the first date as our benchmark for good behavior, especially on the divorced dad’s side of the dinner table.
There are plenty of single parents who use their kids to get out of almost every obligation. exercise, dating, taking responsibility for their own actions.
And I have been the dad who apologized for checking his phone when a text dinged while on a date.