I used an American Girl guide to boys to talk to men on Tinder

My approach towards dating hasn’t been very calculated. I’ve had one or two serious relationships that just happened and therefore dating post-college is a much trickier pool in which to wade. When this tweet about an American Girl Library book on how to talk to boys started going viral, however, it all became clear:

What if I went back to the source of womanhood, the American Girl Library? Would the advice for second- and third-graders hold up in the treacherous waters of modern dating? 

I quickly ordered a gently used copy of A Smart Girl’s Guide To Boys: Surviving Crushes, Staying True to Yourself, & Other Stuff on Amazon and got to work.

A section of the book is dedicated solely to the “getting to know you” stage, featuring questions and conversation starters.

I decided to test out American Girl’s suggested opening lines on everyone’s favorite dating app, Tinder. I couldn’t believe I had finally found the answer for dealing with the worst part of dating: the words that, theoretically, should break the ice and lead to riveting conversations that change the way both he and I think about the world, and also ourselves.

Theoretically.

It turns out that breaking the ice the American Girl way was a little harder than I thought. Several of my matches chose not to respond to my carefully chosen questions.

However, not all hope was lost. There were some guys who decided to play along with the admittedly odd, out of context questions.

However, this is Tinder, so it was probably naive of me to expect that I’d be able to ask such crazy questions without getting a little bit of crazy in return.

Come to find out, what works for an American Girl reader in elementary school doesn’t quite translate in adulthood. While I wish finding love was as easy as asking about hacky sack, it looks like modern dating requires something a little more substantial.

Or maybe just better Tinder matches.