Author: Deano

When it comes to marriage, or engagement, or even long term relationships, there are no "shoulds". Only "wills" based on needs and desires effectively communicated, negotiated, and agreed upon. Whatever works for both of you, works. The rest can be chucked out a big fat window.

That said, there are various legal and tax implications of getting married, some of which may prove long-term detrimental to one or both of you if the marriage doesn't last. Younger people are more prone to having poor credit at some point before becoming more established in a career, for example – and credit histories become entangled by marriage.

I guess the simplest answer I can give to this question is this: if you haven't figured out what you want in life yet, then marriage is much more likely to expose you to many things you don't want in your life. And, more to the point: knowing what you don't want in life doesn't get you any closer to a happy and contented one.

Should a teen mother be engaged?

You Give Your Own Existence Meaning.

If I am unable to have children, is my existence pointless?

The entire principle of giving out a general-purpose diploma is the core flaw in the question. Rather, everyone should be trained from the beginning of their schooling towards a certain set of "certifications", qualifying one for tasks or jobs of varying difficulty levels, or which have given pre-requisites.

Thus, rather than producing HS grads who are all over the map as far as skills and working capacity, and seeing a need to encourage a greater amount of self reliance generally, it may be wiser to start measuring when each student becomes "ready to work at McDonalds" versus "ready to be the assistant manager at McDonalds".

Rather than being a means to leave at-risk or learning-disabled children behind, such a system could (with the exception of legal requirements to work certain jobs) eliminate age as a factor in learning, reducing the feeling of pressure to perform and/or conform with one's nominal age-based peer group. Further, since no high school diploma would exist to signify the "end of compulsory education", follow-on courses of study could simply target themselves directly at the appropriate qualifiers, along an ever-evolving life-learning path throughout one's lifetime, without a stigma of "leaving the real world to go back to school", and hopefully without an equally outmoded sense that higher education as well need follow strict 2/4/6 year lengths for any work-practical reasons.

Given that nearly everyone entering school now will change career paths multiple times before retirement, this changed format overall may help reduce the "abandonment factor" experienced currently by seasoned workers whose fields disappear due to outsourcing/automation/other factors.

What would the impact be if high schoolers had to demonstrate the skills to start and run a small, local, service business in order to receive a diploma?

Having just watched my almost three year-old switch to the next episode of Doctor Who (Tom Baker – The Ribos Operation) after the first one completed on Amazon Instant Streaming (thanks for the free shows, Prime), I'm a bit worried… But I've known this day was coming since she started borrowing my iPhone so she could hit the App Store and show me which apps I should get for her next.

Still, she doesn't know any of my passwords, so all she can do is watch/download the free stuff on her own. And, watching those Doctor Who episodes is something we do together as a family (much to her mother's chagrin when I'm not around)… So she even "gets" that certain things require a parent to do, or at least approve of (in the case of the App store).

I'd say negotiate what you can, while they still treat you as their nominal superior. Also, try to be fair and consistent above all else – that's really the main key to having sensible and obedient children. When those cracks of "because I said so" start showing through, every existing rule becomes a line to be crossed just to see what will happen.

At what ages should children be allowed to use the Internet without supervision?

The answer exactly mirrors the answer to "at what age should I stop bringing my opposite-sex child into Japanese hot springs?", which is to say "when it starts making them uncomfortable."

Seriously, there's no "right" age. Stop overthinking it. Do it until it doesn't work for the child, and they let you know. If you do it too soon, you may turn sexuality into a traumatic/bad thing unwittingly, as they link the opposite sex to a bad memory of switching bedrooms, etc.

Just like education, linking certain skills/expectations to age alone is a terrible mistake. Whenever you get the chance, appreciate and treasure the opportunity to treat your child as an individual, and allow them to grow at learn at their own pace.

At what age should a child no longer share a room with someone of the opposite sex?