Young Love

My daughter has a new "boyfriend" at school. It is still in a very innocent stage--I think he just held her hand for a second the other day. They write cute notes to each other and put them in each other's lockers. It is so cute! Even though my daughter is still ready to move to Florida, she says that she won't "cheat on her boyfriend" when she moves! Oh, my! My son is already continuing a long distance relationship through the internet, and now I guess that she will try to do the same for a while. I don't know--which is better, watching your teens date many different people and worrying about things that could happen, or watching them "commit" to people who live many miles away(less chance of things happening but their hearts are on the line). When teens are dating and one moves away, what usually happens? I guess that sometimes they break up and decide to date other people, but sometimes they decide to "stay together" through long distance. Most of the time, this doesn't last long. Someone ends up dating someone else, and it all falls apart. For now, my son is still committed to a girl who moved halfway across the country from him--they talk on line, they text message, they talk on the phone, they write letters to each other. When I suggest that he maybe think about dating other girls in the future, he balks at the idea--he loves her and wouldn't cheat on her! While, on the one hand, at least there is less worry about what is happening between them long distance...still, I worry about him one day regretting that he closed off so many options at such a young age. I think that one day soon, it will all fall apart--I cannot imagine it will go on and on forever--but it sure has lasted a LONG time long distance!! And I really hope that my daughter doesn't follow the same pattern! What's up with this? I thought teenagers were less serious and more casual about dating these days? I guarantee this: if they stay "committed" to these long distance relationships and miss out on a healthy and normal dating life in their teens, I think they will one day regret it. You are only young once--enjoy it while you can!! But, they don't listen to their mother about these things--they are going to make up their own minds about "matters of the heart." I hope that I can write in the near future that they are "back on the dating scene"--although, there are many things to worry about when that is the case!!