There’s always been this knee jerk reaction people have when they find out a man is dating an older woman. When it comes to telling family members this reaction can be more prominent.

The idea that a young man would want to date an older woman is typically met with negative feelings. Women dating older men is also met with criticism, but it comes from a different place.

 Confusion rises for some when men date older women because it’s ‘weird’ and doesn’t fall into a societal norm. Where as with women the criticism falls into two categories. The first being to accuse the girl of being a gold digger and dating an older man for money, a sugar daddy situation.

While the other criticizes a women’s reasoning for wanting to date an older man. Phrases like, “Why can’t he date someone his own age?” and “Do you have daddy issues?” will be use.

But when comes to the flip situation you don’t hear that, to many it’s just an odd choice for a young man.

But should we be judging men in relationships with older women? Well no, and we shouldn’t be critiquing women for dating older men either.

The only advice to give to anybody dating an older person, regardless of any gender situation, is to remember you both are at different moments in your life.

Someone who is past the age of 30 has their life set in a different place then someone in their early 20s.

If you are thinking about dating someone older you have to remember that they are in a different place than you. Someone who’s older is more than likely set in life already, they have career and a forever home set. They may even already have kids and may not want anymore.

Someone who is young may not be mentally there yet. And that’s where a majority of problems with relationships like this tend to fall into.

A young person may want to go out more, they might want to go to clubs or bars. Someone older may not want that, they may be okay just staying home or going out for a nice dinner instead.

Regardless of whether a young man wants to date an older woman, or vice versa, the problem isn’t age. Instead that problem might just be the time in between. If you’re both at the same chapter in life then your relationship should be the same as any other one. But if you’re not on the same page you might want to reconsider it.