At What Age Should Teens Date?Posted by Lim Iversen on May 22nd, 2021 Helping our teens manage love relationships can be an important role and responsibility for parents. Although it may be difficult to face that fact that your child is growing up and learning to be a young adult, it really is an inevitable process and you must be prepared to make some important decisions about how to handle the problem when it arises. As parents, we remember what a confusing, yet exciting time it was to see our first crush, our first date, and maybe even that first awkward kiss! And we know all too well about the roller coaster of feelings and emotions that come along with puppy love. We wish our teens to have healthy relationships and good experiences in terms of coping with love relationships. We also want our teens to make wise and mature decisions about who they date and how they handle being round the opposite sex. Scenario #1 Many times parents freak out when their teen starts asking about dating, because we immediately associate dating with the possibility of having sex! These are the parents that dread the idea of their teen dating and spending time alone with the opposite sex. These parents have a tendency to set very strict rules around dating and/or keep pushing the dating age up every year. Their goal is to control or get rid of the interaction between their teen and the opposite sex. This sort of control can cause rebellion and result in a teen with an unbalanced view of relationships, that may lead to promiscuity later in life or the moment that teen is no longer under their parent's rule! teen dating sites #2 On the far side of the parenting coin we've parents that are very relaxed, and sometimes too relaxed. They give their teen permission at an early age to spend time alone with the opposite sex without established boundaries. These parents leave many decisions to the teen and only step in if there is a problem. This type of loose control may not provide enough guidance and communication to help the teen manage relationships and make critical decisions. While there is no blueprint to parenting or a one-size-fits-all approach to raising teenagers and deciding the appropriate age for teens up to now, there needs to be a wholesome medium between your two scenarios. There should be healthy boundaries, realistic expectations, and open communication. On The Cosby Show, Cliff and Claire Huxtible set an extremely realistic example by allowing their children to develop relationships and interact with the contrary sex. Though this was a TV family who managed solved all of their issues and problems in 22 minutes or less, this example dealt took under consideration the natural progression of development, including puberty! There are certainly more factors than age to consider when deciding what age is appropriate for teens to date. The following factors also needs to be considered: Personality and maturity level of your child: How mature can be your teen, Are they mature enough to handle dating and spending time with the opposite sex. Are they normally responsible and tend to make good decisions. The character of the individual your teen really wants to date: Have you met the other teen, are you aware their family? Kind of date: Is this an organization date with other teens, chaperoned date with older siblings/adults, will your child be alone with the other teen, is this a family group outing? Venue for date: Will the date take place in a public or private setting. As parents it's important that we help shape our teen's foundation with regards to coping with relationships, dating, and the opposite sex. We should definitely communicate and be mixed up in development process. Additionally it is important for both parents to be in agreement and on one accord when making these decisions. Tamara Hartley can be your Advice Guru and writer of REAL Advice from REAL Experience. She uses her personal life experiences and lessons learned to give others another perspective and help them make critical decisions within their life, relationships and careers.Like it? Share it! |