YOUNG PEOPLE ASK . . .

Young Dating - What's the Harm?

"Lately, some of the boys have  been asking me out or to be their girlfriend." -Becky, 11 years old."

"Most of the kids in our school date. In fact, it is not unusual to see boys and girls kissing right in the hallways." -Llana, a 10th grader.

MANY youths begin to date at a very young age. The media promotes  this practice as normal-as if it were harmless recreation. Twelve-year-old Oneyda relates:  "Almost everyone in  school has a boyfriend or a girlfriend." A young woman named Jenifer recalls:  "I remember kids in the third grade  who were going steady."  She adds:  "I started  to feel the pressure to date when I was 11 years old." 

Understandably, then, if you are not dating someone, you may feel left out. Indeed, you may even get teased and ridiculed for not doing so. Feeling that She was too young to date, Jenifer turned down boys who asked her out.  Their reaction?  Jenifer recalls:  "They made fun of me and joked about it."  No one likes to be ridiculed. But should you date just because others are doing it? Just what is dating? And what purpose does it serve?

Next time:  YOUNG PEOPLE ASK . . .What is Dating?

From the AWAKE! magazine, 2001