Last week, I was at youth church camp, hanging out with kids ranging from 8 to 18 years of age. At one point, I ended up in a small circle of teen girls, and the subject turned to boys. It’s one of their favorite subjects, so why not? *smile*
Thankfully, these lovely young ladies were comfortable sharing their thoughts about romantic relationships and asking for wisdom from me and another woman who joined the conversation. What did I tell them?
Let me share the dating advice I gave these teen girls, with the years of hindsight I now have. Maybe it will help another parent figure out what to say to their child.
Dating and relationships can wait. I wish I hadn’t dated so much in high school or worried about relationships. In today’s culture, the likelihood of finding The One when you’re 16 years old is extremely low. Of course I know people who married their high school sweethearts, but they’re the exception, not the rule. The rest of us bounced around boyfriends, with little more to show than wasted time, broken hearts, and only a handful of great memories. If you happen to find someone, fine, but it’s okay to take your time and start dating later.
Focus on God, yourself, and friendships. Whether you’re 16 or 46, you should feel confident and comfortable as a separate person before adding another to your mix. Figure out who you are in relationship to God, to yourself, and to your friends first. Once your own identity is better formed, you’ll be a better choice for someone else and better able to discern the right person for you.
But won’t a romantic relationship or marriage change you? Yes, it will, and should. But you won’t be mixing your baggage with someone else’s baggage. You’ll be iron sharpening iron (Proverbs 27:17), not bludgeons. I’ve had the bludgeon relationships, and they are not fun. I’ll take my solid marriage, thank you, which is far better at pushing me to become the person I should be in Christ.
Remember real hearts are involved. Skipping around from boy to boy is a bad plan, because real hearts are involved. Only two options for a relationship are possible—it stays together, it breaks apart. And broken relationships typically break at least one heart, sometimes both.
Just because you’re young or you didn’t think it was a big deal doesn’t mean your choices couldn’t hurt someone else’s heart. We need to consider others’ hearts as well as our own. Don’t jump into relationships lightly.
Guard your heart. Speaking of hearts, guard your own heart. Don’t throw yourself wily-nilly into deep romantic entanglements. When you engage in a relationship with someone, you’re giving them a bit of your heart. Can you trust them with it? You don’t have to know this person is The One before investing in a relationship, but you should have some confidence he cares about you as a person, not merely a girlfriend or Saturday night’s date.
Sometimes we pursue that guy that gives us the tingles, but we know deep-down he isn’t trustworthy. Bad. Idea. Just consider your choices and guard your heart.
Love is wonderful. A lot of what I just said might sound like I’m opposed to romance, love, passion. Not at all! When there was a discussion of which boys were cute, I immediately piped up and said that Spock (hubby’s nickname) was super-hot and totally caught my eye. They smiled and laughed, amused to see I still get the tingles for my guy—22 years later.
I let them talk about cute boys and what they liked in boys. We discussed how truly nice guys get more attractive over time and catch your eye when maybe they hadn’t before. I spoke positively of the two girls there who are in relationships (with great Christian guys). I let them know fluttery love feelings are ticklishly good, that romance is worth pursuing with a wonderful man, that love can last for decades. I also stressed that these young women are worth it for some godly young man out there waiting for each of them.
Closing up, I might want to mention that word had gotten around among a few of these young ladies about my own rules for my teenage sons being allowed to date. The one rule these girls seem to like a lot is my sons must first demonstrate they know how to treat a lady—and part of the evidence is how they treat the most prominent woman in their life, their mom.
What dating advice have you given your teenagers? What excellent dating advice did you receive? How did your dating affect how you viewed marriage?
♥♥♥ And be sure to enter the giveaway for the fabulous marriage book, Lovemaking: 10 Secrets to Extravagant Intimacy in Marriage. Winners will be chosen at the end of today, June 18. My review of the book and details on how to enter the giveaway can be found HERE.
great advice! I agree 🙂 However….I am one of those girls that started dating my hubby at 16 and we’ve been together ever since. It really isn’t usual though. My parents had a lot of rules about dating for me. So, I’d say that it is wise to council teenagers to wait a bit to date if they can. It is super hard not to with the amount or peer pressure they experience.
So happy those young girls had you in their lives last week. What a blessing you are.
Excellent advice. I wish this type of message had been given in the church back in the 70’s when I was a teen.
Aaw. That’s so sweet. 🙂
I wasn’t allowed to date until I was 18, and even then, my parents were kind of grumpy about it. They wanted me to put it off for as long as possible. It drove me crazy at the time and I couldn’t wait to meet ANY guy that might have an interest in me, but I also don’t want my kids to get into the drama and possible heartache of relationships in school so I don’t know what I would do when they reach their teenage years.
I haven’t made it about age, but principles. Interestingly enough, neither kid seems especially eager to date. Best wishes!
Great advice, wish to add that during your dating, you should learn to be open to each other. What you are not willing and ready to offer, you should not expect them. Reason being that some expect so much during dating but offer so little, in so doing, the person they are dating sees them as being selfish.
This is great, my parents gave us the same advise, an im thankful for it, now im married to the only guy ive ever so much as held hands with and he is “perfect!”
Ive been reading your blog for awhile and this is my first comment! Lol keep up the good work!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Blessings.
Pingback: Happy Hour | The Romantic Vineyard
I don’t have any kids, much less teens, but I’d still like to chime in here.
In the church, there is so much talk of purity and saving yourself for marriage. And that’s good! But what advice is often left out is the emotional part of “saving yourself.”
I was pure in body until my wedding, but I gave everything emotionally to my first boyfriend. I still have scars from that 10 years later. I am married to a good Christian man, but while I sleep I dream about this first love that I gave my whole heart to.
I would hope other young women could be spared the pain I’ve had to endure from giving away too much.
Thanks so much for your comment! It’s a great one, Ashley.
Pingback: How Moms Teach Sexual Integrity | Hot, Holy & Humorous