How soon is too soon for marriage?

By April Perry
Hurricane High School

When you think of high school, many things come to mind — studying, partying, hanging out with friends, dating. Marriage, however, is not typically one of them.

There are teens, though, who are thinking about the subject and may even be engaged while in high school. What do their peers think about this?

“We all know those couples who are always glued at the hip, but how many of them do you see a few weeks later, fighting, slacking off in school and eventually ending up broken hearted?” said Hurricane senior Jesse Larabee.

“Teens just throw the word love around like it’s no big deal,” Larabee continued. “I personally think that you should wait until you are out of high school to even consider marriage.”

“I think that being engaged or married in high school is a very big responsibility to take care of along with school and jobs,” said junior Kayle Teunis. “However, if teenagers are able to commit, be responsible, faithful and love each other, then there is nothing wrong with that.”

For some high school students, especially girls, the concept of marriage may be exciting, but the responsibilities it entails also need to be considered.

For instance, will their parents still support them? If not, how are two 18-year-olds (or younger) going to pay for life on their own? Also, with a job and school, how will they have time to see each other and enjoy married life?

It seems that if a couple is really in love, they should be confident enough that their relationship will last through college — or whatever else the post-high school world brings — to hold off getting married for a few years.