Every teenager has probably heard the cliche, "These are the best years of your life." Too many of them use it as their philosophy for life. In order to fully experience high school, many teens try to pump up as much drama as possible into their lives.
One of the most obviously dramatized aspects of highschool is teen "love." Just because Billy is the hottest guy you've ever laid eyes on and every time you're around him your heart starts beating the mamba doesn't mean that you are in love with him. Even though Lori may be the cutest cheerleader on the squad and you've been dating her for two hours and have known her for two days doesn't mean you're in love either. It can be good to have several relationships in high school because you'll develop an idea of what you're looking for in a partner/spouse later in life. However, many relationships are taken too seriously, or they are handled immaturely.
It is possible for teenagers to fall in love, but these cases are few and far between. For the most part, teen relationships are passionate, but shortlived. One of the biggest mistakes many people have made is getting married in their teenage years before they realized the new stresses that adulthood would put on them. Many of these people find that once the dates and makeout sessions become less frequent or stop altogether, they have nothing in common.
Another mistake that is made everyday is teen pregnancy. If you really care about someone enough that you want to have sex with them, then that's your decision. However, there are lots of reasons that teens have sex that have nothing to do with caring for one another. Generally, guys might have sex to fit in with their buddies, be "cool," and to "become a man." Girls might have sex because they want to keep a guy or to get a guy to like them. Either gender might just want to "have fun." Kids, there are lots of ways to have fun that don't involve sex. Go bowling, horseback riding, see a movie, go out to eat, even go to a party. Also, if you really feel you have a legitimate reason to have sex, do it safely. Use a condom or other form of contraceptive, and use it *properly.* It only takes one mistake to get a pregnancy or an STD that will take the rest of your life out of your hands.
If you fall in love as a teenager and the two of you live happily ever after, that's great, but don't expect relationships to be like that. Many people get hurt in relationships because one of the people takes it way too seriously. You're young and impressionable. You watch soap operas and movies that minimize problems and convince you that you need to grow up faster than is good for you. Take things slowly, and know that the person who is the best prom date you could have wished for might be the worst partner you could ever live with. Take things as they are and not what they might be. And don't get ahead of yourself...you have a lot of living left to do.
