When you are young you don't really appreciate the little things in life, you focus on fun and friendships. When you get to a certain age you start to focus on relationships with the opposite or the same sex. If it turns into a serious relationship it can carry you well out of school and into the working world.
It is my opinion that jumping into a relationship when you are very young and maintaining it until you are married or have kids, really stops you from simply enjoying life in general. You probably aren't going to dancing in the evening at a club, or go on a road trip with just the guys or the girls.
It doesn't teach you how to be self sufficient, how to take care of yourself, fix your own vehicle, manage your money as a single person, rely on your own abilities to make your way in the world. It is nice to have someone to help out all the time but what happens if you and your high school sweetheart are now forty and one of you dies? Or you decide to breakup? You will be completely lost on how to take care of yourself. Being out in the open world is a lot harsher alone than when you
have your parents constantly trying to protect you from everything. If
you can figure out how it all works on your own you will be much better
for it.
Let's say that you do experience life on your own after school, and you go out and see the world, you become self sufficient and know how to take care of yourself. You have a good stable job, your own place and a vehicle. Now when you meet someone and enter into a relationship, the relationship becomes a want instead of a need.
Being in a relationship where you need someone else to survive is not healthy and could really harm you if something bad were to ever happen. Wanting to be with someone else more than anything in the world and still losing that person is extremely painful but you will still be able to take care of yourself if it ever does happen.
The only problem with this scenario is how do you tell your kid they should wait before they get into a serious relationship and experience the world before they settle down.
Scott Goerz
