January 11, 2011. Facebook status, “he’s sooo cute, I’m in love.” This status isn’t from someone in high school, it’s a seventh grader in TMS. Aside from the fact that a 12 year old shouldn’t even be on Facebook, how ridiculous is it that she’s “in love?” Kids in middle school shouldn’t even know what love is and it’s ridiculous the way they flaunt this emotion. What these children are feeling is not love, it is the need to be accepted into a society where everyone that’s cool has a boyfriend. In fact, no one in junior high has reached a maturity level, at which they are crystal clear of what love feels like. And they reason they don’t know what love feels like is because the only people they know are the ones that attend their school, not the students outside the school community that might be better for them. To them to say their in love when they’re that age is like trying your first cupcake and saying it’s the only cupcake you’ll ever eat from that point because you’re in love with that one cupcake. Ridiculous, isn’t it?

The human species need to be accepted is not ridiculous, it is a technique for survival. That’s why it is logical for girls to look for that acceptance in the emotion of love, because everyone knows that it comes with the package. But the emotions that theses little children are feeling are not love, but what they were looking for in the first place. Someone that would help them fit in in a society full of 8 year old couples. We buy clothes that other people are wearing, shoes and makeup too. Many girls get boyfriends because their other friends have them. So in reality, she doesn’t love him as much as she loves that he’s her new cool accessory to help fit in the social pyramid. On TV shoes and real life, we often see teen girls getting boyfriends because they’re alone, vulnerable, and/or feels envious of her friends great relationship .That is a craving for love, for acceptance. There is a saying on the web, and it mocks young relationship and goes something along the lines of “6th graders are saying they are in love, but what has their boyfriend done for them? Steal back their animal crackers?” I couldn’t agree more.

When a girl knows the difference between love and acceptance, or even has a clue, she is mature. And that brings us to argument #2; no teen in junior high has reached a maturity level at which they are crystal clear of what love feels like. I didn’t stop thinking that boyd had cooties until third grade. So it disgusts me when I see seventh graders saying they love the boyfriends that they are not even prepared for. They might like their boyfriends, they don’t know what love is. The kind of love that is different from the ones you feel for the family and friends. These small girls don’t even know who they really are yet, how they feel at times, or even which of their friends are true. According to 90% of the answers on Yahoo! Answers, the average age for a boy to start being interested in girls is 13 years old. Those same people responded that girls start liking boys at about 11 years old. There are two things we can gather from this. First of all, boys in seventh grade, according to this report, have just started liking girls. How can they say they’re in love when they haven’t even started started being attracted girls for a year yet? It’s like playing your first basketball game and saying that you’re the best of the game. And the second thing we can gather from study is that girls mature faster than boys at this age, so when they start falling in love, boys might not even be ready to leave their toy guns and legos. The girls will heartbroken and insecure that her love doesn’t love her back and that is going to interfere with her studies.

So now, let’s just say you oppose the two points I have just made about teens in love, that you believe teens know the difference between love and acceptance. But think about this; the boys that girls claim they are in love with are 99% of are from their school. Out of the billions of guys in the world, she chooses one out of 300 and thinks he’s her soul mate. Now that is unbelievable. A girl will meet so many guys when she grows up, in high school, college, or even adult life. Why would she rush something getting a boyfriend in middle school?Also, the word “love” is thrown around too carelessly by our generation. They don’t understand love means commitment, trust, no pressure. They just think the jittery feelings they get at the pit of their stomach is it. But news flash, it’s not. Child star Macaulay Culkins recently split from child star Mila Kunis. The reason was her career and the distance. But he also claimed that the divorce was caused by them being “so young, and she’s a good person, but we just weren’t meant for each other.” This is what happens. As a girl grows up, she wants more things than just guys she like, she has a career and a busy schedule and if she doesn’t love the childhood sweetheart she’s with, she’ll break up with him because they were never really in love in the first place.

Now, I know that some people think that young people can love. And happily ever after’s with childhood sweethearts exist. Okay, let’s work on that. First of all, the probability of a pair of childhood sweetheart marrying in the future is probably 1 in 1,000. And let’s not forget that these girls have all their life to find real love, and no ones in a rush to leave. People should just wait till their teen hormone rushes stop interfering with their rational thinking and then consider love. And for all the parents out there, these obsessive feelings that middle girls feel can actually interfere a great deal with a child’s social life and education. So please seventh graders, stop saying you’re in love. You’re not in love, and not at all close to the age where you understand what true love is.

I want other teens to know that love is getting to know a person from the inside out, knowing their weaknesses and the spots where they shine the most. At your age, 13, 14, you’re too consumed with the changes in your environment to really truly do that. So wait until the middle of high school, when you know yourself better. At that time, you can start to truly find love. But before that, you need to find yourself.