AD| Finding love at any age
Love is a funny thing isn’t it. As a young girl I was like many other children my age. I dreamt of falling in love just the once and that would be it. I’d have a big fairytale wedding surrounded by family and friends. Together we ‘d have two perfect children, a nice house and a lovely garden. We’d maybe even have a pet or two as well! I think that’s something that most children dream of.
However, in reality I think it’s fair to say that I’ve kissed a fair few frogs before finding my prince! Love is so often portrayed to us as children in fairytales as being a ‘one-size fits all’ approach. In truth, I think we all know that it’s far from that!
Stereotypical movies depict a woman falling in love with a man around the same age as her. They’ll usually be in their twenties or thirties and together they’ll create a family and spend the rest of their lives together.
In reality, people of any age and gender can fall in love. Love is certainly not just for the young. It’s also for the young at heart, and that means that over 60 dating is a real and viable thing too.
It’s not just about love though. For many, especially in the current hard times we’re facing, they’re just looking for friendship and a bit of companionship.
While, I’d love for the whole fairytale romance thing to be true for everyone, it just isn’t, and that’s ok. As such I believe what we need to be doing is teaching our children that life isn’t quite like that. Now, I know that many people do have their fairytale ending and that’s great, but for the majority that’s simply not true.
We need to teach our children that love comes in many different forms. For example from friendships, sibling relationships, pets and yes, in the form of a romantic partner too. It’s important to add that when thinking of a relationship, it isn’t just a man and a woman who can form a loving bond.
My children know full well that men can fall in love with men and that women can fall in love with women, just as a man and a woman can fall in love. They also know that all of these are normal and healthy.
While finding love is great, I also want to teach my girls that it’s not the be all and end all of life. The most important thing they need to do in life is discover who they are first. They need to do all of the things that make them happy, go to all of the places that make them happy and make friends with whoever makes them. By truly finding out who you are and what, and who makes you happy, you can then truly find the one person who can add to that.
What do you think? Is love just for the young or can love be found at any age? Let me know in the comments below.
