Friday, November 15, 2013

Should Teens Be Allowed to Date?

Our family has chosen to not allow our girls to date until they are ready to consider marriage (which won't be for a while yet). Lest you think I am being too prudish, I offer this article from Acculturated for your consideration.

Think about the purpose of dating. It’s not just some fun thing people do. It’s going into dating with that mindset that takes a wrecking ball to the heart. 
No, the most essential purpose of dating is to seek out and get to know a potential spouse. Sure dating also entails emotional and spiritual growth. But a big part of that growth is to prepare you to be a better spouse and parent. Life and nature have this pretty stubborn trajectory, and marriage and family is the direction we hurtle, whether we like it or not. 
So let’s go back to teen dating. Pretty sure there is a broad consensus that teenagers should not get married. With the exception of maybe the Duggar family, people on both sides of the aisle tend to agree that men and women should be emotionally (and heck, physically) mature before they take lifelong vows, especially if those vows are to stand a chance of actually being life-long. Ok maybe the Duggars are a bad example because Josh Duggar (married son) actually seems like more of a man than your average 30 year-old. But I digress.
Heck, call me a bad social conservative, but I don’t even think women should get married until they are in their mid-twenties and have had a little time to experience some independence after college, which yes, I think they should attend. Unmarried. 
The average female body doesn’t even stop growing until around the age of 25. And call me crazy, but it seems un-ideal for a woman to have a baby when her body is still growing and developing. And considering that babies are the natural result of marriage, well – it’s worth thinking about these things.

Yes, it is worth thinking about these things. Unfortunately, many families don't carefully consider the pros and cons of teenage dating before allowing their children to pursue relationships. And it's best to start thinking about it early before your kids are teenagers.





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