Are my parents right?

[icecreamqueen3]

I am 15 and I dont wanna date but my parents like to ask me why I haven't and say that i should be by now because they have at my age. Are they right? I dont desire to do anything with anyone at this age personally

If u are able to share some statistics of around how many people date at my age it would be helpful cause maybe that can get them to understand you know

[Latha]

Hi there, Icecreamqueen

You don't have to date if you are not feeling any interest in it. I think it is great that you have a clear sense of what you don't desire for yourself, right now.

Your parents are not right that you should be dating, because it is an optional activity. Safe relationships are based on consent, and for that to work, we must have the option to choose not to be in a relationship at all. Even if your parents were dating around your age, and even if 99% of your peers were dating now (which we know is far from the case), it would still be okay for you to not date.

I went looking for the statistics you wanted, and I'm having trouble finding recent numbers on dating for people around your age--most of the data is for people a little older than you. For example, this report from the Pew Research Center in 2015 suggests 35% of teens have been in a romantic relationship. Based on what I've heard, I don't believe that number has increased significantly in the decade since, so it is safe to assume that the majority of people your age are not dating at any given time.

If you shared these ideas with your parents, I'd hope they would stop making comments about how you should date. To make how you feel very clear to them, you could tell them directly that their comments bother you and ask them to stop. Is that something you've tried?