<p>I don't know if this is only relevant to my hometown and my high school, but I have noticed that several people I went to high school with (now ages 18-21) are getting proposed and married. I was rather shocked by this, especially in a case where a girl I went to high school with (who is 19) was dating her boyfriend for only six months before he proposed. They are getting married in a couple of months 0.o </p>
<p>I suppose that I have rather strong opinions when it comes to marriage, especially marrying young. It is difficult for me to see that after a short period, such as six months, you can truly know a person well enough to spend the rest of your life with them. My significant other and I have had a very strong relationship for the past year and a half, and I am NOWHERE near emotionally ready (as is he) to decide to get married - I don't even think I will be if we are together a year from now. I also find it difficult to believe that you really know that you want to spend your life with that person when you are so young - we still have so much to see, places to go, experiences to live - why are people so insistent on settling down and growing up when these should be the best and freest years of our lives??</p>
<p>I am curious to know what your thoughts on young couples getting married, as well as starting families, is. It seems like I hear more and more about people getting married so young each day.</p>
<p>Some things to consider: it’s considered early today, but that wasn’t always the case (for example, look at the average age at first marriage in the 1950s). Also, arranged marriages, where those being married might not have even seen each other before marriage, last pretty long.</p>
<p>I was engaged at 17. I didn’t end up marrying him but I was engaged for the first few years of college and last year of high school. Somehow I was able to travel abroad and do a bunch of other things while engaged. Didn’t hinder my “freedom”. </p>
<p>I am 22 and getting married in a couple of months. My best friend from childhood is married with 2 kids( my age). </p>
<p>I’m getting married for an extremely practical reason. Neither of us have insurance and it’s a heck of a lot cheaper to be married than single. We live together and have for a while. We’re getting married eventually anyway, why not just speed it up and get some healthcare coverage?</p>
<p>Also… not all of us see a SO as tying us down. On the contrary, it is because of my SO that I have so much freedom. If you feel like you’re not “free” then you’re probably not with the right person. </p>
<p>“Best” years. Ha. I don’t subscribe to the theory that we somehow peak in our early 20s. </p>
<p>I really, truly don’t care what other people do.
Oh and the first marriage age is continually increasing so most people aren’t getting married “so young”.</p>
<p>It feels weird that so many people I went to middle/high school with are married and having children. I don’t feel anywhere near ready to do that, and I’d be a terrible parent at this time in my life.</p>
<p>However, not everyone feels that way. In the past (our grandparents ages and older), people typically married younger than they do now. Their relationships worked (of course divorces were more difficult to come by!), and I see no reason why people that marry younger can’t have happy, fulfilling lives like their single peers. </p>
<p>Oh, and the reason you hear so much more about young marriages than previously? You got older and now it’s your friends and classmates:p</p>
<p>When I graduated high school I heard about lots of people pairing off and getting married, starting families, etc. I think it’s mostly because they have other objectives in life than college at the time because none of them ever went to college, they either went to fastfood or the military. Why not have kids and get married? It’s the next big step I think for them that we don’t really arrive at until after college. </p>
<p>None of my college friends are married. My best friend is getting married soon. By the time I’m 27 and out of law school I hope I shall be too. I will have been in a 9 year relationship by then. I don’t even think many people are in relationships 5 years (what it is right now) and get married sooner.</p>