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" My boyfriend and I have been together for six months and are very much in love. The only problem is, there is almost an eight-year age difference between us, and people bring it up all the time. What can I do to explain the situation to them so they will understand?  Wendy, 15, Tunkhannock, PA First of all, I don&amp;#039;t doubt your love for a second. At the same time, I am reading between the lines of your letter: You are 15, your boyfriend is 22--your friends and family are right to be concerned.  You&amp;#039;re probably thinking that you know tons of happily married couples with an even bigger age gap between them. But let me tell you the difference: When two adults are in a relationship, age is much less of an issue because they&amp;#039;re on equal footing--both have weathered adolescence, which is when many of the most important life lessons are learned. But in a relationship where one person is an adult and the other is an adolescent, there&amp;#039;s an imbalance. (It would be like you dating an 8-year-old. Gross, right? Because the period between childhood and adolescence is another key time of emotional growth.)  So basically, the people who love you are wondering what a 22-year-old could have in common with a 15-year-old, besides One Thing. And if your relationship gets physical, not only is it immoral that he&amp;#039;s dating you, but it&amp;#039;s also illegal. Even if he doesn&amp;#039;t try to touch you, there&amp;#039;s something very odd about a 22-year-old man who feels connected to a 15-year-old. (And don&amp;#039;t get caught up in defending yourself and saying you&amp;#039;re different -- once you&amp;#039;re 22 yourself, you will majorly question the judgment of a 22-year-old who goes out with someone who&amp;#039;s your age now.)  But my most immediate concern is that you will be getting into situations (drinking, sex) that might be appropriate for a 22-year-old but that are not at all appropriate for someone who is 15. And that&amp;#039;s when things will get dangerous. Listen, I realize that what I&amp;#039;m asking of you isn&amp;#039;t easy. But if you won&amp;#039;t let the people who love you protect you, then at least protect yourself.  End this relationship. See it as a romantic love that&amp;#039;s a completely ill-fated thing. I&amp;#039;m giving you the opportunity to end this relationship on your time schedule--as opposed to waiting for it to be on his. This way will be far less painful. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/love/dating-advice/q-and-a/a62/older-boyfriend-ds-1105/>