High school Sweethearts. The classic “teenage experience” of a maddening and euphoric relationship.  High school is a formative time full of memories and understanding oneself, and being in a relationship can only add to the experience. 

Being in a relationship should be, in theory, a romantic best friend. Having a relationship can allow for memories and experiences to prosper, as well as can give someone to rely on. Being in a relationship ensures you always have someone by your side. 

In accordance with the stress and worry school can bring, being able to turn to a partner and have someone to be there for you can be essential. Having someone who is in the same boat as you and can understand the pressure and teen angst can be reassuring. 

Relationships that happen at a young age are crucial in teaching how each person functions and acts in dating situations. Dating at this age teaches what one likes and dislikes, and helps teach how to connect to others. “Experimenting” with dating shows what traits each person values most highly, and can help later in life to already know their ideal love match.  

While some may believe that high school relationships are not beneficial in regards to their sometimes flippant state, why not have fun in the moment. Everyone can recall the remarks of adults saying, “Live in the moment,” and “These are the best years of your life,” So, why not take advantage of the ability to let loose and shrink responsibilities?

As a teenager, being in a relationship doesn’t necessarily have to be serious and the person you will indubitably spend the rest of your life with. High school relationships can, and should be, fun! Someone to go on picnics with and have dinner with, and fulfill the ideal high school standard set before us. 

At this age, a relationship may not hold as significant a weight as later in life with prospects of marriage, home owning, and building a family on the horizon. At this point, teenagers can merely enjoy the time they spend with each other. 

Teenagers can go on dates and make memories to last a lifetime. Most adults can recall their first love and romantic relationship, for better or worse. The memories made through these experiences can play a role in who you are as a person, and teach how to truly appreciate time spent with another. 

Having a romantic partner, also allows for you to always have someone to turn to and rely on. Being in a relationship gives you someone, who you can always be yourself around, someone always there for you. That type of stability can make everyday brighter, and every hardship lessened in severity.  

Being romantically involved also helps to better one’s social capabilities. In a relationship one may have to spend time with their partners, friends and other social circle, therefore broadening their personal horizons and comfort level. 

Unfortunately, as with any aspect of life, with the acceptance of love, hurt may accompany. Relationships at this age may end poorly, but this is only the beginning. Every relationship, whether good or bad, can teach one about themselves. 

To summarize these ramblings- high school relationships are worth it. Worth it for the experience. Building a bond with another can almost always have benefits. They are worth the potential hurt, in order to gain the memories and the affection. 

Eventually there comes a time where society expects teens to start their romantic journey. If one is not in a relationship then they are instantly considered to be an outcast, but If one is in a relationship then they are hated on by their peers out of pure jealousy. 

With high school relationships comes an endless amount of toxicity no matter how hard you try to avoid it. Relationships at a young age tend to form tunnel vision, causing you to not focus on anything else other than your significant other. Priorities tend to get out of hand and soon you can find yourself falling behind in your academics as well as any other significant events that take place in your life. 

In a time like high school, it is very crucial to maintain good mental health. Whether that be giving yourself time to be alone for a bit, going out with friends, or sleeping in after watching your favorite movie all these things can increase your level of happiness. On the contrary, once you commit to a relationship you essentially sign yourself up for the potential to get your heart broken. 

Another common theme is also having to balance both friendships and relationships which is not always easy. Significant others can become insecure and accuse you for cheating when they find you hanging around other people or give them an appropriate amount of attention. This is more than true in high school when everyone is still young and have not met their full maturity. The consequences of other peoples mindlessness are not worth your while when you are the only person that can respect yourself the most.  

 Once you find yourself deep in one, relationships form an unnecessary amount of stress and create a whole different dynamic between you and your own life. More expectations are then implemented on you in such an inconvenient time. 

High school is a time where you must focus on your school work in order to set yourself up for a successful future. Choosing to be in a relationship just adds more to your plate that many other teens find incredibly hard to balance despite not being in a relationship.

There have been numerous occasions where teens have found that they lost part of themself while dating another person. Maybe you are the type of person who feels the need to cater to other people’s needs over your own. In the early stages of romance, teens can find themselves latching too hard onto the concept of dating. Perhaps you found yourself too attached to someone and soon became blind to reality. It is a hard realization to come to that a person is not all you have and that in its own causes a lot of personal growth but could be found traumatizing for others.

High schoolers can attend dances and other school events without feeling an unnecessary amount of stress to find their “other half”. You can even go with someone you like but it does not have to form into a relationship.

To tie all these points together, it is important to know that there is more to life than a relationship at such a young age. To be in a relationship or finding “the one” is not worth the time or effort during high school. You have so much time later in your life to be able to form a connection with someone. However, during high school there is more that can go wrong than good.