Tropes In Reality- Age Gap Romance

       

    

 Here we go with another week and another chance to highlight some of your favorite tropes and see how they would actually work out in real life! This week we will be focusing on our love for age gap novels. Are you able to draw a line in the sand when it comes to age gap novels? If there are supernatural creatures involved does that make it ok or do they fall into the same boundary of yuck? Are there any hard limits when it comes to the relationship the two characters have with each other prior to them becoming a couple? How does the introduction go with family members when they realize that there is one party in the relationship that is either very young or very old? These are the questions that I want to know your thoughts on and I will try to give my answer and response to. 

        Let's start out with the Pros and Cons, like every good little list should start with! Pros: There is someone with life experience to help guide the younger party with things that they aren't sure that they would like. Whether that be pushing boundaries or just plain introducing them to something that they didn't even realize was out there. They can also steer them away from things that they know for sure probably isn't the best thing to do and have real life experience with. They tend to be more settled with things and can be dependable. Not all the time for most of these of course but in general. The younger party can be the one to keep the older partner up with the times or even help with things that are brought to their attention that they may not have realized were an issue. They also keep them feeling "young" when sometimes they get stuck in their ways. Now, for the Cons, sometimes the same things that are good can be bad. Sometimes the older person may not want to change because, why fix what isn't broken? The younger person could sometimes forget that hey, my partner can't run at 100% all day like I can or even if they can, it can be more exhausting for them than for me. Of course, I think this is the main one that a lot of people think about with age gaps, and that's the conversation. There are some things that will always fairly common no matter what age you are, such as morals, as well as worldly things such as nature and languages. Now the issue could come in with thought processes and nostalgic things. These are usually easy things to make non factors but being able to relate to someone on a basic level with something as simple as singing the Pokemon theme song and remembering coming home to watch it from school can be important. It all depends on the person and the couple. I think the Pros out weigh the Cons here but tell me what you think? Are there other things that you would add to your pros and cons list?

        Probably the most interesting aspect of the Age Gap romances that I've read is that for the most part the romantic interest is someone who can whisk the main character away. Of course this allows them to spend most of their time working on the meaty back bone of the relationship but in reality sometimes this isn't the case. Normal everyday people will end up having to work and make introductions with the family members that can sometimes be awkward. I have no read an Age Gap romance yet where the love interest meets the family and things were awkward. If it was, then it was mainly due to the gap in lifestyles and not the fact that one of them was older than the other. When I say older, I do mean like 20 years or more. I think a 10 year gap is more reasonable to deal with for most people than say a 20 year gap. 

        Lastly, have you ever been in an age gap relationship? What attracted you to that person? Are you still together? How long did it last? What was the gap? How'd it go with family introductions? I've never personally been in an age gap romance, not sure that I would mind if I was. I think I've been the oldest in my relationships but not by much. Drop some of your favorite age gap romances in the comments!!