Try to remember that women really are like children, even the smart sophisticated ones. Your interactions with women will go orders of magnitude better if you interact with them like they're children.

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Child: He cries and makes it into a big tragedy when he doesn't get the toy he wants.

Woman: She cries and makes it into a big tragedy when her boyfriend can't make it to a family event.

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Child: He wants the deluxe version of the new PlayStation, and 3 of the newest games. He's done nothing to earn it, but he's thoroughly disinterested in anything less. He'll take less but be very "meh" about it.

Woman: She wants the ripped 6'1" doctor who makes $250,000/year. Anything less doesn't meet her "high standards." She's done nothing to earn a man like that, but she's thoroughly disinterested in anything less. She'll take a less attractive partner but be very "meh" about him.

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Child: He wants to go to the science museum. The parents plan a trip for the weekend. By the time weekend rolls around he's found some new trading card game that his friends are all playing, so now he wants to spend the weekend playing the card game instead. The parents cancel the trip.

Woman: She just met a great guy and they have a date planned for 5 days from now. By the time the date rolls around she's had positive flirtatious experiences with 2 other men, and now her friend needs help moving. She's already forgotten about her date. She makes up some excuse and flakes.

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Child: He's never intrinsically satisfied. If you buy him a new toy he'll get bored of it and want another one four days later. If you give him one bite of chocolate he'll cry if he doesn't get more. He'll never be happy with what he has, so you have to impose limits externally.

Woman: She's never happy in her relationship. Her boyfriend is always broken and she's always "working on him." She nags him to pick up some new feminine-centric lifestyle habit like cooking elaborate non-functional meals, excessive cleaning, homemaking, prioritizing family gatherings, deprioritizing his career to have more time for her, or giving up his free time to prioritize being a trophy boyfriend at social events. Every time he gives in and adopts a new feminine-centric lifestyle habit she finds a new one to nag about. He has to impose external limits on her control of the relationship or it never stops.

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Would you get frustrated with an 8 year old for having lost interest in a trip that you planned 6 days ago? Of course not, you'd go "Oh, fuck. Well of course he lost interest, he's 8. Whatever, we'll do something else this weekend." Don't get frustrated with her for flaking either. If she says she's sick or busy text her back "no worries," and say literally nothing else. Maybe get back in touch 3-4 weeks later.

Would you vent your emotional baggage or life problems to an 8 year old? Of course not. Don't vent to her either, she's not interested and can't really process what you're saying.

Would you expect an 8 year old to competently lead your family/group through a trip to the zoo? Of course not. You'd say "OK, we'll go here, then here, then here. Then we'll eat. Then we'll go see the pandas. Then we'll go home." Do the same thing on a date. Don't expect her to have any input. If you let her have input her requests will be absurd and unreasonable, just like an 8 year old's would be. She'll want to go to restaurant A instead of B, and she'll say it's because A is closer, even though it's not. She'll walk around town with you not knowing what she wants. She'll waffle between different ideas and be satisfied by none of them. She'll pick one at random and end up not liking it. Know where to go and how to entertain her. Lead the date.

Would you give joint control of your finances to your 8 year old? Of course not. He'll see $30,000 in the bank and think it's OK to plan some crazy $18,000 spending spree to build an RC toy airplane or something. Don't give joint control of your finances to your LTR either. She'll see $30,000 in the bank and think it's OK to spend $18,000 on a wedding, despite wanting to also get pregnant and imminently embark on the bank-breaking endeavour of having 2-3 kids.

Women are children. Your life with go better if you treat them like children and have the same expectations for their behavior as you would for an 8 year old.