The age gap?! - how old is too old? and how young is too young?

How long is a piece of string? For some people, two or three years gap is more than enough to deal with. For others, 20 years is manageable.

Ultimately, the ‘optimal’ age gap boils down to the level of emotional maturity on both sides. Just as there are 40-year-olds going on 60, there are plenty of 40-going on 20′s. The ideal would be that you are emotionally younger than your years and he is older. When I mean ‘emotional maturity’, I don’t mean behaving like a 12 year old, throwing tantrums when you’re old enough to know better. More the way you approach your life – with the zest and vigour of your younger peers, or the meandering ponderance of someone older.

At different ages we are all at different times in our life where the age difference may be more or less compatible. For example, think back to how different you were at 17 and 27. Yet you were probably less different at 37, than at 27, and this too, plays a part in the ongoing success of your relationship with a younger man/woman.

The rule (whose origins remain unclear) states that the definition of a ‘socially acceptable’ age gap is ‘half your age, plus seven.’ Unless ‘he’ is foreign, in which case, it’s half your age, plus five! So, if you are 40, a man/woman of 27 is fair game, if you are 50, that age rises to 32.

Of course, with these kind of rules, I have to question who decided this was the ‘rule’ and what was their intention? Was it (as I suspect) intended for older men looking to justify their relationship with a younger woman?  Is is a sensible guide, or a load of old toss? How young is too young?

what are your thoughts???