Introduction

Good evening everyone. I'm glad to write on this topic and I'll like to create some awareness here on Dating.

Dating is the stage of relationship between the opposite sex who intends to enter into courtship. Dating can also be tagged as the early stages of a relationship that has the intent of leading to marriage.

Dating is a stage of romantic relationships whereby two people meet socially with the aim of each assessing the other's suitability as a prospective partner in a future intimate relationship. It represents a form of courtship, consisting of social activities carried out by the couple, either alone or with others. - Source

Why Dating is a topic to discuss

Nowadays, dating is becoming more and more common as the days go by. Young ones are even said to date for fun, or date to pass time.

Dating is a very important aspect of a relationship because, it's a period where both parties observer and decide what they want in each other, then see how to adapt and adjust to suit each other's personality. Is it not necessary to to take this stage of relationship seriously?

Meaningful Dating, How? What is needed?

You find yourself dating someone when you find them attractive, reach out to them, ask them out, and start talking regularly with them. Long phone calls, chats, texts, hangouts, date nights, etc.
source

As a matter of fact, to make dating meaningful, one must apply a certain sense of seriousness and commitment to the relationship. Meaningful dating has to do with a sense of maturity.

To start explaining this, we should first know what stage of maturity is prescribed as eligible to dating.

Maturity is a state of the mind, it only has a few percentage of speculations related to age. Moreover, the general assumption of maturity when it comes to relationship, dating and marriage ranges from 20 years of age, upwards especially in females. In a similar sense for males, it is generally assumed that a man of 23 years upwards is due to be matured.

Note: Age doesn't guarantee maturity! Maturity is a topic of emotions, mental capacity, personality and preferences.

On the other hand, there are lots of people who don't get matured mentally and emotionally, even after 30. This implies that no one should be forced or expected to date at any time in life. It should be a natural and personal decision. We can only advise them or make suggestions for them.

A meaningful dating story has a lot to tell about patience, tolerance, understanding, kindness, endurance, encouragement, positive feelings, positive thoughts, positive attitude, positive energy, love, affection and support. All these qualities fall under maturity. With these, Do you think dating should be done for fun? No!

When you're out on a date with someone you're dating, what should be the composure, attitude and make up of the company?
Source A date is not a time to operate the phone or attend to other personal factors. Iy is a time to study each other, focus on each other and adapt to each other.

We can hereby conclude that a meaningful relationship or date should be done by two mature minds who have the intents of forwarding their relationship and getting attached to each other for marriage.

How can a negative view of dating affect our society?

To understand how a negative view of dating can affect the society, think about a ship, sailing the Pacific ocean without a navigator. Waves of the ocean will play chess with that ship, and the sailors will definitely take longer than they expected to reach their destination of at all they will be taken to any destination. In an ocean, there are no landmarks, cities, billboards, sign posts or traffic signs that can lead us to our destination. A compass is the main thing necessary when sailing the sea in order to keep track and maintain a particular destination.

In the same way, we can assume that the sailors on that ship are the people dating. The compass is a positive mindset(marriage in view). The waves of the sea can be assumed as our emotions, our expectations, our feelings and romantic cravings. I hope you now understand what I mean!

To sum it up, having a negative view towards dating is like sailing a ship without a compass. If we allow our emotions, romantic cravings, infatuation, and feelings to ride is away from meaningful intentions for dating, we will be drifted away by those waves and we won't reach our destination.

The result? Broken hearts, broken homes, unwanted pregnancy, long lasting feelings of guilt, hatred, sexually transmitted diseases, depression, lack of appetite as regards to high morals, dead conscience, and many more negative results.

These results cannot be over emphasized in our society. They are rampant. This means that our generation has a lot to do to resolve our intent as regards dating.

Youthful age and school life is enjoyable and fun,but one thing that makes it more fascinating is the fact that everyone wants to do what others are doing. In some schools, youths see dating as a part time stuff where you have a boyfriend, a girlfriend, someone to kiss whenever you want, someone to have sex with whenever you want, someone to solve some of your problems, and someone to share emotions and feelings with.

A Solution to the Issue

In my opinion, it is the sole duty and responsibility of the parents to mould the thinking of their children and prepare them on time against peer pressure in school. It is also the duty of school authorities to create the positive awareness needed to fight these misconceptions in youths on time.

Even though every child will decide whether to listen to instruction or not, the way the instruction was passed out and when it was passed on to them heavily determines whether they will act in accordance or not.

The effectiveness of parenting reduces the rate of Juvenile Delinquency and innapropriate affairs between the opposite sex.

Parents should set boundaries for their young adults, teach them by example how to react to negative things that come in enticing forms, and avoid making them feel uncomfortable when their parents are at home. This will give them the edge to be approachable and convinceable.

Conclusion

To achieve a meaningful relationship, seek for guidance and support from Mature people, pray for help from God, confirm your level of understanding and maturity, know what you want and be firm in decision making. More importantly, have the motive of getting married.

If you are not ready for marriage, financially, physically, mentally and emotionally, do not step into dating. Just admire the lady and move on! Just compliment the guy and gave your front!

It is important that we build a society where everyone can boldly say that they made the right choice on their choice of marriage mates. - @misterfab

Thanks for reading!

CC: @whitestallion