I will only add to the conversation that I've dated women with kids and when I attempted to focus on her kids over her, it always ended badly, always, because I had an idea that it would be better than focusing on her, I've since come to understand women are far more self centered than I ever could of imagined, you'd think this woman wouldn't have the gall to chase after other men while im practically babysitting her kids, but it happened a lot and at no point during this did she ever have any self reflection or analyze her own character, the lens was focused purely on me and my faults.
This was a long time ago but its always stuck with me, they expect me to put the kids 2nd over her, that is actually quite difficult for me even today.
The truth is that this society has become far too comfortable highlighting the flaws of others while masking our own, it's actually terrifying because if somebody tells her she did nothing wrong, she'll 100% believe it and buy into it without a second thought, you HAVE to create your own narrative as a man in a relationship and you can do it well for 10 years but one slip up and suddenly that narrative can change and when it does, you'll be called a liar on top of whatever other labels the slip up nets you.
You have to speak your mind, be authentic and get in front of your flaws.
Women want to negotiate using words and situations, but as men all we can negotiate with is our presence alone, if you have nothing to say you might as well just go because one of her friends, maybe even one of your friends or another guy, they'll use suggestion to fill in the blanks for you, the only way to negate those people filling in the blanks for you is to leave or get in front of the blanks.
Silence is also a useful tool but you can't rely on it all the time.
Now, I understand I don't bargain or compromise, I simply replace.