As someone who has been in a may-december relationship for 29 years, I'd say this article is right on target. By the time we were married 10 years, he'd figured out "get 'um young and train 'um right" wasn't going to work and I was sick of being "taught". Honestly, if he hadn't had his lifestyle tied to my income, I don't think we would have made it to year 15.
We have, since, managed to work through our issues but, every now and again, he starts "teaching" me again and we get right back on the treadmill.
Respect, or more accurately, lack of respect for the younger partner is an issue. So is the fact the adoration a young girl has for her older man early on fading away. By the time I was 30, I wanted a true partner. He still wanted that girl who looked up to him.
It's been a rough ride. While I"m in this relationship for the long haul, I wouldn't do it over. There are just too many problems due to the age gap. And some of them, we're just starting to see with him entering his senior years and me still rooted in middle adulthood. I feel like I sold my youth and got gyped in the deal but it's the deal I made.
Honestly, I wouldn't recommend a may-december relationship involving a very young woman. Women need to get to their late 20's to know who they are and who they want to be and catching one young doesn't mean she'll take to your teaching. Anytime you enter a relationship intent on changing your partner or counting on your partner never growing up, you're in trouble.
If the woman is, at least, 25, I don't see it as nearly the risk.  |