Kids Are Dating Too Young

TrayPretzel, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Jun 14, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

Today, more than ever, kids are longing to have boyfriends and girlfriends. You go onto any elementary school playground, and you will find a "couple" holding hands or kissing behind some building. They are considered cool and very popular by all of the other students because of this "cute" relationship they have with each other.

I used to witness this at my own elementary school. It was the talk of the playground. Everyone was shocked to find out that this girl or this guy was "going out" with so and so. I generally tend to be an open-minded person about most things, and I realize that kids at this age are experimenting and attempting to get a peak at adolescence and the world of dating. Yet, I think at this age, dating is overrated and misunderstood, and kids should just stick to being kids.

Whatever happened to the simple pleasures of running around with your friends, games like jump rope, hand clapping games, and tag? It seems instead of looking for fun in these kinds of childhood activities, they are looking in other areas such as dating to occupy and feel good about themselves.

And what do they do as couples anyway? At this age, they do not even understand what dating or a true relationship is. They consider walking around on the playground together and giving each other an occasional phone call or instant message "going out."

I am not trying to sound like an old grump complaining about "kids nowadays," but I do wonder why they have such an interest in it and the effect that it must have on them.

All dating creates at this age is a false sense of maturity. It can also lead to feelings of self-consciousness and an overdone attempt to portray a certain type of appearance and personality to peers. Those dating at this age are bound to overachieve, because it just comes with the territory. If a kid has decided in their mind that he or she is ready to date, then he or she is most likely the kind of person to try much harder than others their age to look a certain way, such as the way they dress or make use of unnecessary and age inappropriate makeup.

I believe that kids are trying too hard to be adults and more mature than they should be at their age level. Yea sure, elementary kids can be very immature, but so what! That's why they are kids! It is a part of who they are at this stage of life. So they should enjoy being immature, enjoy running around with their friends on the playground and having innocent fun. It is about time kids start being kids and leaving the adult stuff up to the adults.

Published by TrayPretzel

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Takeaways

Kids are "dating" too young
Most elementary and middle school kids do not fully understand the meaning of a relationship
Instead of playing with friends at school, many kids are with their "boyfriends or girlfriends"

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Kids Are Dating Too Young

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