It is a common phenomenon to fall in love at a young age, especially when the changes in hormones among young boys and girls develop and they feel an attraction towards the opposite sex.
It is a normal thing to fall in love or develop crush towards the opposite sex at this age.
As the attraction becomes mutual it result into a relationship.
With the advent of social media applications like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Tinder, which generally targets the young audience have made the term ‘dating’ particularly at a young age fashionable and sought-after thing.
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When should one start dating?
There are no hard or fast rules upon when one should start dating. Age is not a matter if both the persons are mature enough to handle the matter.
Dating begins from the teenage years generally after fifteen and the age varies from place to place.
However, many believe that early dating can lead you into several unfortunate circumstances such as losing your childhood.
It is the phase when a boy or a girl nurtures and enjoys the juvenile phase.
Early loss of innocence
As soon as children hit their teens, they have a tendency to imitate the grown up and hence girls dress up like young celebrity models and pose selfies on social media platforms, boys on the other hand start growing beards as it is the latest fashion scenario among men globally.
Moreover this is a period of confusion among the teenagers as no one is there to guide them into the correct path and sometimes parents being pre-occupied by their work, fail to overlook the needs of their children.
Under such a period, instead of enjoying the adolescent phase teenagers plunge into the complicated adult world.
Poor academic results
When teenagers begin dating early they start discovering the aspects and ideas of being in a relationship which ultimately affects their own lives as they begin to spend lesser time with their family members and friends or ignore their studies and other recreational activities.
Being in a relationship demands a lot of maturity. It requires care and a lot of patience which the young minds can’t handle properly resulting in the loss of interest in studies and declining of good grades from the result sheets.
Anxiety among parents
For parents it is a very difficult task to handle the concept of being okay with their teenage children going for dates.
Since at this phase the teenager’s minds cannot judge between the right and wrong, they argue with their parents which causes a discord between the parents and children.
Thus the situation requires a mature handling.
Under such circumstances there should be a proper communication between the parents and children. Instead of being harsh and imposing restrictions or avoiding the topic of dating, parents should take the initiative to discuss openly with their children upon the ups and downs of early dating.
Losing friends
Early dating and committing into a relationship can break a friendship as it requires attention constantly. Youngsters fall into this trap as they start ignoring their friends and take them for granted as soon as they start dating.
In this way they isolate themselves from their friendship community and miss out all the fun and recreational stuffs they once did together.
However once the relationship breaks they then start realizing upon how they neglected their friends. Sometimes it becomes too late as others move ahead in their life and do not acknowledge the friendship anymore.
Hence it should be noted that friends are essential in our lives and we should always maintain the term ‘friendship’ more than relationship.
Practice of early unsafe physical intimacy
After dating for a period, it is a common assumption that youngsters will be taking their relationship to the next level of physical intimacy.
But it has certain serious complications and youngsters do not realize it and repent only when the deed is done and no solution emerges.
It can lead into pregnancy among girls at an early age or sexually transmitted disease from one partner to another.
Without proper or half knowledge youngsters try to imitate adults by falling into a physical relationship. Youngsters should be made aware of the complications that arise with physical intimacy.
Falling in relationships multiple times
Once youngsters develop the idea of dating in their minds it becomes difficult for them to stay away from it, some cannot stay single anymore because they have become accustomed with staying committed.
Youngsters become so much involved with their partners that once the relationship gets over they fall for another relationship without knowing its consequences.
They feel hollow when they are single and moreover there is peer pressure of having a boyfriend/girlfriend.
In this way youngsters become dependent and feel lonely when they are not in a relationship. It leads to wrong selection of partner and further emotional breakdown.
Emotional breakdown
Breaking up has become a common phrase among the youngsters who are falling into relationships easily now-a-days.
However, irrespective of age, heart break is intolerable and causes a lot of emotional turmoil upon the mind of the individual.
Since youngsters have a vulnerable and inexperienced attitude they usually end up hurting themselves in order to move out from the trauma.
Youngsters generally go into depression, stop socializing and detach themselves from their everyday activities and under drastic situations try to harm themselves by committing suicide.
Under such a situation, parents should take the initiative to monitor upon their children’s activities.
They should be encouraged to resume to their normal activities and forget the past. In case if the matter gets worse, psychiatric help should be administered.
Negative Effects
Multiple dating at early age shows its negative effects in the later stages of life as well.
When a youngster is busy dating at a time when studying hard and securing good grades for obtaining a good job, the person loses his/her chance of excelling well and moving ahead successfully in life.
It results in a dark and uncertain career and moreover if a youngster had a bitter experience with dating and relationship at an early age then the probability is that he/she will develop a negative attitude towards getting into a relationship or getting married in future.
Thus, dating at a young age has its own points of simplicity as well as complications.
Youngsters should always remember that quick decisions related to dating should be made on the basis of logic and not on the basis of emotional vulnerability.
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