How old do you have to be..

[Andy]

There's no certain age, like everyone has said, it's different for everyone as different people mature at different times, but they always say that when you're really in love, you know it

[Caitlin2009]

I agree with Caitlin. When you start getting hormones, attraction happens. The word 'love' is used so carelessly that a lot of times teenagers believe their crush/infatuation/whatever is 'true love' and that they're meant to be together always and so on. I'm not saying serious relationships can't happen at your age, but I don't see them lasting forever, especially if you move to where right out of highschool you're married/moved and trying to be grown ups at 18. 18 you're still a kid even if society says you're an adult. But age is a number and I judge people more on maturity than birth date.

So long as you're not jumping right to OMG WE R IN LUV right off the bat, you're ready to call the real thing and know it's real when it does occur.

mmmhmm i mean i was 17 when me and my ex started dating and i felt at the time that i loved him, but i didnt know the true meaning of real love up until last year. what i felt for him and what i feel for Denise are completely different

[Mio]

I guess everybody has a different timing on this. What works for you, it doesn't have to work for me. So I think that love has no age. But I think a person that is too young maybe is not able to understand it complete.

[Riyko]

I think for each person it's different and the age you feel it is different as well. I'll give you the examples in my family. My mom was 16 when she fell in love with my dad and they got married when my mom was 17 and 29 years later they are still married and still in love. My brother was 22 when he fell in love with his wife and they have been married for 4 years now. Me I didn't fall in love until I was 20 and I thought that guy was the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with, we talked about getting married, buying a house and where we would live but 3 years after being together he decided he didn't want to be with me anymore and we broke up (this was just in July of this year and it was the day after my 24th birthday). Those are some examples of the differences of when people fall in love.

[Silviar]

I don't think teenagers are too young to know what romantic love is. Love, like everything else in our lives, is an evolving process. Sometimes, with intense young love, people don't realize there's a point where the fire dies down. There's still strong love, but it's not as intense as that first burst, and I think that's where the whole "young people don't understand love" comes from - teens haven't had a chance to experience that sort of longevity of love that lasts through time and its complications.

[michy]

I don't think teenagers are too young to know what romantic love is. Love, like everything else in our lives, is an evolving process. Sometimes, with intense young love, people don't realize there's a point where the fire dies down. There's still strong love, but it's not as intense as that first burst, and I think that's where the whole "young people don't understand love" comes from - teens haven't had a chance to experience that sort of longevity of love that lasts through time and its complications.

I think this was very well said!
Any mature person can feel the full depth of love, be they age 16 or 30. Perhaps the older we are, the better we're able to see through the initial intensity of that fire we feel for another, and recognize whether the deep, underlying emotion lies behind it... or not. The fire is amazing, consuming, and whatever age we are it can be easy to fall into it and be SURE that it's love... when in reality it's only a part of the broader, more enduring bond we can form with another.

[JoMarie]

I don't think there is an age for someone to know what love is. Children love their families and people that treat them right, so everyone can experience love at any point. As far as puppy love and all that, I do believe that it depends on how clear your head is on a lot of things. Young and old experience love the same, but how you use your head in the situations is different. Or at least that my opinion

[Tanja]

I used to think I was madly in love when I was 14-16... I was absolutely, 100% sure I would live happily ever after with my boyfriend ♥

Well that didn't happen

Now that I've met Andy I know what TRUE love really is - I'm not saying I didn't love my other boyfriends cause I know I did but this time it's so different, like nothing else in the whole world and I doubt I could feel this way about anyone else ever again. I don't want to either

There's no exact definition for love, there's just many different types of love you can experience in my opinion.

[princessmia]

I think it depends on your maturity level, and how serious you are about the relationship.
At first I thought I was in love, that was when i was sixteen, but that was a mistake and I had never been in love before and I thought I knew what it was.
For me, I knew when I was 18. And I'm 19 now, and every day, I just know. I fall more in love with him every day.

It's almost unexplainable about how you know, you just know.

[NikkiP]

I think that every person that you will love in your lifetime will feel like something completely different. The first time I fell "in love" I was only 15 years old! There have been a few guys between then and now and they have all been different but I can honestly say that at 23 years old I have never felt the way that I feel right now.

Just go for it and do what makes you happy.

[ashleecarol]

I believe when you are in your young teenage years, love is something new and exciting because you are already entering that whirlwind of emotions. I think a lot of younger people confuse "love" with other emotions. I started dating my SO when I was 13, but I really fell in love with him shortly before we saw each other for the first time when we were 15, so you're just a year older than I was. It is completely possible to know what "love" is at that age. However, I know that as people get older, their view on "love" matures with them and the term of it goes deeper. It means more than you'd ever imagine. It has for me!
Every time my SO leaves me to go home (or vise versa), I'm astonished by how I feel like I love him even more than I did prior to the trip...when I thought I couldn't love him any deeper than I already do! Ahhh, love. A tricky subject
Congratulations on your love. I hope it works out for you

[hxcbreakdance]

I would not put on age on it considering I had my first "love" when I was 14 and we were together for over 3 years. I didn't really find what I would call true love until I was 18, sometimes I think you have to kinda think you're in love first before you actually find the right one but that was just my personal situation. I think it's great to be 16 and in love as I once was and if you feel that you're in love than I am sure you are, being young and in love is an amazing feeling!