A kid can be the best wingman for a single dad. Women tend to be more attracted to men who act paternal, and experts suspect that DILFs are able to compensate for the extra baggage by building nurturing skills instead of muscle. “The sexy dad is absolutely a thing, for most but not all women,” psychiatrist Reef Karim told Fatherly. “He reveals his tender side, is empathic, responsible, caring and probably more settled in life. This is particularly true with an involved father.” 

Indeed, studies have shown that women tend to be attracted to men after observing them interact with babies, and there’s some evidence that women can use a man’s face to gauge whether he has an affinity for children. The research, led by James Roney of the University of California Santa Barbara, involved asking women to look at a series of pictures of men and rate the likelihood that they would be involved fathers. The women were surprisingly accurate in their guesses—and also expressed more interest in pursuing “fatherly” men for long-term relationships (although they preferred less paternal types for quick flings).