photo: Gabriela Camerotti/ BY-NC

Boys and girls go through a kind of “mid-teen crisis” at 16. Not only are they confused about who they are and what society tells them to be, but they're insecure. And crazy. Hormones are going haywire and many are just trying to figure out whether they like boys or girls. Then, you add dating into the mix, and both sides are bound to end up broken hearted. Girls are as much for romance as guys are for sex. Girls have a clingy nature at this age and that repels the guys. Hopefully both parties will grow out of these silly habits, but until then, maybe take things slow.

I spoke with members of both sexes to get their insights into young love's various pitfalls.

Guys talking about Girls:

“Dating is always fun at this age because your exploring new things, as long as everyone understands that it will most likely mean nothing in the long run or even short run. It’s a slim chance that they’ll marry that person and it’s just all in good fun.” Austin (High school Junior)

More after the jump...

Guys talking about Guys:

“They don’t know how to respect each other, don’t take much seriously, when they had “sex” they were just happy with that but didn’t know exactly how to be in a relationship. But because of these things, it might help them further in the future to learn from their mistakes.” Isaiah, college freshman.

Girls talking about Guys:

“They're too young to be in a relationship or know what love is because they don’t even know what they want yet. They're already confused in their own world that having someone else in it makes it really hard to focus on school. There’s peer pressure for dating and they think that they won’t fit in if they're not in a relationship. Certain people can handle relationships, but mostly, people at this age have too much going on to be in a relationship.” Debra

“Guys are great as friends, but their still exploring on how to learn how to do the right thing.” Lissa

“They're immature and they change personalities because their still growing into who their going to be. They flirt with a lot of girls and don’t express their feelings and won’t tell someone that they like them.” Andrea (High School Junior)

Sixteen-year-olds don’t even know who they are, so how are they supposed to be in love? Love is something that is built up over a long period of time, not a two week fling. Now, no matter how many wise words, they will date and explore this new thing called love. Some day, every sixteen-year-old looks back and smiles even when they shed tears. So my fellow sixteen-year-olds, when you get your heart bruised, remember, you're just sixteen and you probably are only feeling only a fraction of the pain that you’ll feel when you’re older and you get your heart broken.