Age Difference In Relationships

How old is too old? How young is too young? You need to ask yourself these questions before you start your new relationship with anyone if there is an age gap. There are times when the age difference will matter, other times it really won’t. The thing that is going to make the biggest difference in this is how big the age gap between you two is and how old you both are. 

Look at it this way, you are 20 and your girlfriend is 15. Besides being illegal, most people would obviously see something wrong there. Now take those same 5 years only now you are 25 and she is 20. Not so much of a problem now is it? In fact that seems to be fairly common in most relationships. Age can have a huge impact on your relationship if you are in your teens to twenties. It seems to not matter as much during your thirties and forties but becomes apparent again in your fifties and sixties.

Insecurity is a common issue that comes up in relationships that have an age gap. Nobody likes aging, especially the older person in the relationship. How would you feel if you saw your partner talking to someone closer to their age? Would you feel like they were connecting better emotionally? What about their hobbies and interests? It’s normal for everyone to be a little bit insecure in their relationship but the age gap only makes it more difficult.

As was just mentioned, your interests and hobbies will be different, but so will your behavior. Take two people born 10 years apart. Your behavior will be different because you two grew up in different decades. You might like to sleep late, while he might get up at dawn. Is your breakfast a calorie calculated meal while he just eats whatever he feels like? While these little differences might not be a problem at first they can cause problems later on down the road. What’s going to happen when you hit 30 and still feel like going out but he’s in his 50s and all he wants to do is stay home? Ultimately dating someone younger or older is going to come down to how much the age difference bothers you and how you two plan on handling things in your relationship.