Contrary to popular belief, younger does not equal better. In society we like to downplay differences, but there is a huge gap between 14 and 20.

Lots of people say, "Well, I'm mature for my age," and if so, that's great! But there are two kinds of maturity: behaving maturely and being mature. Behaving mature requires a quick mind and an ability to act "beyond your age." These are good skills, but to actually be mature requires life experience-- years lived-- that you simply don't have at 14, 15, or 16.

You have plenty of time to develop relationships later in life. Now is the time to find yourself-- not to be looking for someone else.

If your parents disallow you to date until a certain age, don't worry-- you're not alone, and you'll have plenty of opportunities later. Besides, dating at younger ages isn't much fun-- what can you really do at 14, anyway? Many aren't allowed to date until they're 16. At 16 you can drive a car, so this seems pretty reasonable to me, comparatively. Of course, if your parents say 18, that's tough. But it's not the end of the world.

If you take lessons learned while single to heart-- you can survive by yourself without a relationship, for example-- you'll be much more successful later in your relationships. Of course, that means you have to learn the lessons from being single, which means you're going to have to be single for awhile. But being single is fun! If you don't think so-- if you can't have fun by yourself-- how are you ever going to have fun with others?

Take some time and find out who you are. Boys and girls can come later. There's no sense dating someone only to find out you're somebody different. Save yourself the trouble and do that first.