Bethenny Frankel Finds the Upside to Dating in Your 40s

There's no shortage of single mothers in their 40s lamenting the struggles of dating, but Real Housewives of New York star Bethenny Frankel has a different take on her situation.

"I think it's amazing," Bethenny tells Redbook magazine. "Many women say to me, 'Do you think having a career makes it harder to meet men? Do you think being a mom makes it harder?' And I say no, it's actually amazing because it weeds people out. I'm a mom, and that's the number-one most important thing. If I meet someone, I have a child, and if you don't want to be with someone who has a child then excuse yourself."

The Skinnygirl CEO's career is also non-negotiable. "I have a business and am a strong businessperson, so if you can't handle that and that's not something you're interested in, you can excuse yourself," she says.

In the same way, as a more mature woman, you also know what you will and won't accept in a partner. "In your 20s, you can date a bartender, you can date an architect, you could date someone with seven kids, you can date someone who will never have kids — it doesn't matter," says Bethenny. "But when you get older, you're in the sweet spot and know exactly what you want so you don't waste any time."

Not wasting time is imperative when there's so little of it. Although Bethenny says "I tend to always look at the positive of this," she admits that parenting is like "a rose and it has petals and thorns." The biggest thorn? Time management. Parenting, Bethenny says, "slices and dices the amount of time you can spend dating or doing other things."

Bethenny hopes that by speaking about her personal life she can encourage other working single moms to look at their dating life in the same light. "It's empowering to say to women who are in their 40s, 'You are looking at this thing the wrong way. Look at it the right way.'"

[Source: Redbook]