My daughter’s father is not involved, and I’ve always felt whoever dates me gets a little lucky because they don’t have to deal with the other parent. Dating someone who has kids that has the other parent involved means a constant reminder of a past relationship. It also means there will always be another person in addition to your own relationship that you will have to negotiate parenting with.
I also came to realize that if you are already a parent that dates another parent, your parenting styles are likely to clash especially if the kids are older! Someone with kids may have a certain way of raising their kids while you might have a different perspective on things.
Overall I personally found it too difficult ever to date someone with kids (somewhat hypocritical as a single parent myself, but I feel out of anyone I would have a better understanding of it). But I truly commend anyone who does that is either childless or has children of their own as well. It takes a lot of negotiating and selflessness because it involves many different entities (the person you’re dating, the child/children, the other mom/dad, the other grandparents, etc).