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There
was a time in my life when I would have died before admitting that my
parents had given me good advice. I can still remember that moment when
I suddenly realized that my parents' advice could be a little extreme.
I realized that enjoying certain TV sitcoms was not the next step to
moral suicide, and that if I listened to rock 'n' roll it wouldn't cause
my heart to uncontrollably beat off kilter.
I began to second-guess all the advice I was given all the time. Especially the "You'll be so much happier if you wait to date until you get a little older."
Even
though I'm sure my parents had some hidden ulterior motive besides
just wanting what was best for me (that was a joke if they happen
to read this), I believe following this advice was beneficial to
my overall happiness and sanity. Call me a traitor if you like,
but I encourage all young teenagers to think twice before throwing
themselves into superserious relationships.
The reason I'm saying this to you may be different from any other reasons you've heard before. I don't think hormones have to take over your body, "forcing" you to have sex before you know it. I don't believe that God expects you to wait to date until you've met "the one." Believe it or not, it was some crazy psychological theory I learned about in my college freshman psych class that made me thankful I had waited to "hook up" seriously—it was Erikson's theory of psychosocial development.
Erik Erikson (1902-1994) taught that throughout a human's life there are seven major life issues faced, each of the seven being the strongest at a certain time of life. Each issue is a struggle between two opposing ideas or forces. Before you can progress to the next level you have to conquer the present level.
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