Dale Kemp

The point in child protection laws is that children lack the maturity to make decisions in a mature way. So to protect them from their handicap, we require the adults to leave the kids alone.

We know that girls can enter puberty as early as 10, or as late as 15. But puberty only transforms their bodies, not their minds or emotional maturity levels. So a physically developed 13 year old may look adult, feel sexual, and want to have fun flaunting her newly developed charms, but she isn't ready to make adult decisions about sex, who to have sex with, why she wants to say yes or no, and what to do with the long term consequences.

So when does a girl become a woman? When she is old enough to deal with the baby that can result. If she is mature enough to bear, then she's mature enough to mate.

Once she is mature enough, if she decides to mate with a man much older than she, that's OK. And if a boy becomes a man, say .. . aged 25, and decides to mate with a woman much older than he, well that's fine to. But note that a girl usually becomes a woman much earlier than a boy turns into a man. Why, well, because a man old enough to handle having a child has to be able to support a wife and child. A woman only has to be able to nurse and change diapers, love her man and do without partying and so forth, to be a fit mother. That doesn't take as long to develop.

So date 16 year olds, but don't bed them.

Be very selective about 18 year olds you might want to bed.

Women in their 20s, unless they are party animals, are likely to be ready to bed and wed, but be sure you want the responsibility package that goes with it.