Most parents will forbid their kids from dating due to an assumed negative impact on grades. On average, teenagers find their first love at the age of 17, when kids are still in high school.

Students should date because dating has lots of benefits, such as emotional support, higher grades, maturation, self-discovery, and happiness.

Dating can provide emotional support

First of all, having a boyfriend or girlfriend provides emotional support. Compared to friends, people usually trust their boyfriend or girlfriend more, and tend to share more of their personal feelings.

Take my friend as an example. She has a boyfriend in her same class. Whenever she doesn’t feel happy, her boyfriend will go and comfort her. One time, our teacher got very mad at her. I spent a ton of time trying to stop her from crying. However, all of my efforts were in vain and she didn’t stop crying. But when her boyfriend came, she stopped crying immediately after he gave her a hug.

Dating can mean higher grades

We live in a society where people feel grades are more important than anything else. I often will hear my relatives or parents say that I can’t date before getting into college because dating will affect my grades. But is this really true?

When I asked this question to my friends who are dating or had dated before, they told me that being in a relationship actually motivates them to study harder because they must prove to the teacher that dating won’t affect their grades.

Beyond that, when preparing for big tests, the couples will cheer each other up. Some people might say that friends can do the same thing, however, as previously discussed, the degree of emotional support isn’t the same. Preparing for and taking a test while having a positive attitude greatly impacts the quality of work one can produce, and because having a bf or gf can make you more positive, dating actually can have a positive effect on learning.

Dating helps teens become more mature

Being in a relationship can help a person mature because they can discover what builds and breaks down trust and, thus, improve their future relationships.

Most girls will expect or dream of a relationship that is as perfect as those in Disney movies. Boys will love girls forever, there’s never the “other woman”, conflict is rare, and they live in a façade of a “happily ever after” kind of life. However, after dating in real life, girls learn that these kinds of love stories are a fantasy.

Take my other friend as an example. She was naive when she started dating her first boyfriend. She used to brag to me about how great and gentlemanly her boyfriend was but, in fact, he was just a player who ended up texting her, “I don’t love you anymore, you deserve someone better.”

After that, she told me that she learned a lot by dating that boy. She learned that being in a relationship doesn’t necessarily mean that the boy will put you first for everything, it doesn’t mean that you can be jealous whenever he talks to another girl, nor does it mean that you shouldn’t give him some privacy. These are all valuable lessons that help people mature emotionally and socially.

A common criticism is that when it comes to the break-up, it has the potential to be very painful. To be honest, it really can hurt, especially if a person dumped you for harsh reasons such as “I realized that I didn’t love you that much” or “another girl needs my love more.” However, one shouldn’t live their life in fear but instead think about the future and allow each experience to help grow you into a more mature person.

Dating leads to self-discovery

Being in a relationship in high school can allow a person to discover their gender preference, which kind of boy or girl one likes, or if they just want to focus on school. They also learn which kind of activities one likes to do with a partner.

Sometimes, your romantic partner will want you to do things that you normally wouldn’t do, and things that you haven’t experienced. For example, a girl that is more timid and likes to do things like draw or play music might be encouraged by her boyfriend to try things like watching horror movies or playing basketball. Without her boyfriend, the girl may never try these activities. Because dating can help push students out of their comfort zones, it broadens student’s interests and experiences.

Dating makes teens happy

Last, the biggest benefit to dating is that it can make you happy. This is the reason why most people choose to date in high school. According to a 2007 study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology, relationships lead people to greater life satisfaction. When you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, there is someone else in your life beyond your family who really cares for you.

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Students really should date in high school. In contrast to what many parents or teachers think, dating in high school can allow a person to have more emotional support, higher grades, become more mature, and learn more about themselves. Moreover, dating is fun! You will make great memories with your bf or gf. Just live in the moment and then you will see how fun dating can be.

Read the other side of the debate here.