In most cases, close relationships between a boy and a girl lead to marriage. You must be very sure about the decision you are making, as marriage is serious business and for mature persons.
It is important for young people to put off getting married until they are reasonably sure that they can handle the responsibilities of being either a husband or wife and a parent.
 You may be physically attracted to someone but that someone will not necessarily make a good marriage partner for you. He or she might be wonderfully married to someone else and not you. Fortunately, we do not marry everyone we are attracted to. If a man and a woman are going to live with each other for life, there ought to be other elements besides sexual or physical attraction in the relationship.
In pre-marital counselling, we try to advise young people to look into the other person’s background and see if it complements their own. In most cases, marriages that end in divorce have regular problems.
Couples are also advised to have a reasonable age difference. The boy may be a year to five years older. The age gap should not be too much so that the other does not feel left out, considered small or immature.
Couples should also be from the same cultural background and should share the same religious background as well. They should have sound prospects for eventual economic security.
This applies to both the boy and the girl; no one should marry for “economic security†though. Both partners should pull their weight in the relationship.
They should develop an ability to communicate with each other.
Continues next week.
