Truth Life – Dating Someone Older
September 29, 2009 by Michelle Smith
Filed under Relationships
I was watching an episode of MTV’s True Life on television this morning. The episode dealt with dating someone who is older and it focused on two couples. The first couple consists of a young girl, Amber, who is involved with an older man named Bobby. He is 47 and she is 26. The second couple is Lisa, 42, and Marcus, 25.
The problems that show up in these relationships deal with the older person saying, this is going to be the way things are going to be and if you can’t fit within this picture, then the realtionship will not work.
In my experience, that’s how people in their 40s are. We have lived long enough to know where who we are and what we want. We can be set in our ways and rigid.
In the case of Bobby and Amber, he was successful and that success kept him away from home a lot. Amber ended up sitting around in her sweats feeling like she her youth was passing her by and in reality it was. When Bobby returned home from work at 11pm, he was grumpy and rude. The show ended with Bobby and Amber first breaking up, then becoming engaged, and finally not engaged, but working on their issues.
In the case of Lisa and Marcus, she wanted him to find a higher paying job. He was working 13 hours a day, at two different jobs, but she wanted him to make more money. He applied for work with the Sheriff’s department and when they refused him, she turned to another man. The way the show was edited, Lisa looked like a bitch. She started on him the minute he walked in the door after a long day.
As I’ve mentioned before, I do find the younger/older relationship interesting, but it seems problematic to me with couples that have a large age difference. What do you think about this issue? If it’s going to work, what do you think is a workable age difference? Have you ever been involved with someone who was either much younger or much older?
Image credit: Sxc.hu
Well Im in a relationship and my husband (2nd) are 13 years older than me. We are going for 3 years of marriage life and Im not one second unhappy!! We love each other so so much and we see each others needs. Secret to our happy marriage is to be open, honest and respectfull with each other in all ways….talk about everything…..discuss your fantacies, feelings, etc. with each other. And u will discover warm, intense feelings towards your partenr and ya….you will look at him/her with other eyes full of passion
I think with 13 years you’ve got a better chance, but when people are 20 or more years apart, that has got to make it challenging.
Not one second unhappy – sounds like you are well-suited.
Thanks for commenting.
I think the relationship will work if both couple will stay committed and determined to make it really work out. I guess it depends upon how the couple will handle the big age gap between them. For me, I got to experience dating with someone who is 20 years more senior to me but ours never worked out because of some issues that I discovered about him like how womanizer he is. Good thing I knew it beforehand or else it would leave me so much pain. Dealing with age gaps really lies on how the couple handle the situation.