Have you ever dated someone of an older age, especially with huge age gaps? Over 5 years, maybe. Particularly where you were the younger one, did you try to be more mature during the relationship, especially when it was in the early stages? If you did push yourself to be more mature during the relationship, was there a reason why? Was it to gain more respect from your other half, or simply an unconscious act to 'catch up' with that person? It's interesting to see why people try to be more mature. The more long winded an explanation, if any, is better! For those who have not/are (been) any relationship where the other person is older, or mentally more mature then you are, would you? If the gap in maturity is huge. Would you try to be more mature, or stay the same as you are? For me I was in a no-strings attached relationship where he was 14 years older then me-we didn't actually meet up, but looking back, I think at first, I did try to be more mature. Maybe to earn some more respect? (But he turned out to be even more immature, so.) Thanks for sharing :eusa_danc
I dated a guy who was 4 years older than me, and who would always brag about his high IQ (I found out later we were only separated by like, 4 points, lol). I was 19 years old, and he was 23. I felt a pressure to be more mature than I was, and to act as smart as I could, but at the same time, he was a giant man-child despite wanting it to seem otherwise, so it confused the heck out of me, and we eventually broke up. I tried my best to be mature and show him that I was smart too, but nothing could live up to his critical standards. I don't know why I tried so hard, I guess I just really wanted his approval and respect. He kept claiming that I was childish and had led him on by pretending I didn't have as many problems as I apparently had, but I've come to realise over the years that he probably projected his own problems onto me, because boy, was he a handful! My not yet being 20 really bothered him to the point of him saying the world would respect me more after I turned 20, and that he couldn't take anyone under 20 seriously, but as soon as we broke up, he wound up dating a girl who was even younger than I was... I've also been in the opposite kind of relationship, where I was the mature one, and I think I did inadvertedly push my partner to try and be more mature. I do expect there to be a common level of maturity in a relationship. It's no fun being seen as an immature person, but it's no fun to date one either.
