Natalya Paliichuk

Kmelnitskiy National University

EARLY MARRIAGES: PROS AND CONS

When we speak about early marriages we mean a certain age of getting married – from 16 till 20. Young couples start thinking how to get a well-paid job to earn money for their living. So we can make the conclusion that early marriage makes young people become grown-up and step into real life.

The next argument is that most young people (especially girls) physiologically are ready to get married and have children. The doctors say that this is the best age for having the first baby. Besides, it’s easier to find your “second half”, when you are young.

I know many people, especially ladies, who are 30, have one or even two higher education and they are not married. They lost chance and, as we know, the cleverer a person becomes, the more difficult for it to find a partner for a family life. It is not easy to live together if two people have been formed and have their own views on life.

Besides, I want to say that early marriages are usually based on love, not on money. Many people often regret that they did not connect their life with the first love. If you are sure that this love is real, you should take your chance and get married, not appealing to the age.

I can’t agree that early marriage prevent people from studying and making career. According to the psychological quiz, most young couples manage to combine studying at the university and having a family and even children.

At the end children have young parents, there is no generation gap between them. They understand each other better than those who have parents of the middle age.

And the last but not the least. The population of Ukraine lessens from year to year. The death level is higher than the birth level. We should think about our future, about children. The early we start the better.

At the end I want to underline the key points of “pros”. I want to remind you that most marriages in Ukraine are made under 20. Usually the basis for it is a great love between young people. And the first love is always true. In order not to regret about lost feelings you should take a chance and get married. And don’t forget that it’s easier to create a family when you are young. Your love will help you.

Besides, marriage makes people be independent and responsible for each other. They began thinking about life seriously and plan their future. They have other priorities compared with single young people, who spend time smoking, drinking and even taking drugs.

We are absolutely sure that it’s possible to combine a family life and studying. If you have desire to get higher education, nothing can prevent you from it.

At the end I want to remind you that we have many ecological problems. We hear the word “pollution” everywhere. It influences our health very much. So we can’t ignore it. As a rule, healthy children are born in early marriages.

And now I speak about “cons”.

To my mind, marriage is a very important thing, as it requires people to be responsible for each other. And when we speak about early marriage, young people are not ready for it, they are afraid of this responsibility.

The next argument is that youth is not ready psychologically and morally that makes early marriage short and full of problems because of misunderstanding. Teenagers do not take family life seriously; they think it is a kind of a game. Young people usually depend on their parents financially. If we take our reality, we’ll see that sometimes parents do not have enough money even to support their own family, not to mention their children’s one. It is difficult to find a well-paid job without any education. So, we move to the next argument against early marriage – lack of education and the need to get higher education. Many people prefer to graduate from the university or college first and only then get married and have children. You should achieve some results in your career and then it will be easier for your to stay in a good job with a good salary.

To my mind, such marriages are not stable. Young couples won’t be able to solve their family problems because of lack of life experience.

Nowadays we have a new generation century with new technologies. It means that education becomes very important. If you don’t have higher education, you can’t make a good career and get a prestige job. For example, one girl aged 16 got married and has two children, but she has no money to live on, and she works as a cleaner, earning very little.

Early marriage is based on love, but it doesn’t mean that they will be able to live together. Usually the first love or passion soon disappear and their life becomes boring with lots of problems.

Young couples have children quite early. But they don’t have experience in bringing them up. Young mothers and fathers want to enjoy themselves, going to the disco, pubs and cafes. For example, recently I’ve seen a girl in the pub with a baby. She was chattering with her friends, smoking and drinking beer. I don’t think that the baby felt very comfortable there.

Yes, you shouldn’t be in a hurry to get married. The Americans show a good example to us. At first they get education, make a career and find a well-paid job. Only then they get married and create a family at the age of about 30. I should say they are very successful in life. Why not follow their example?

I would like to sum up the key points of “cons”.

I want to remind you that we live in the 21^st century, the age of new technologies. Education becomes an integral part of our life. We need it for our career and to be confident in our future. If you get married early, you’ll have another problems to solve, you won’t be able to study well.

Marriage is a great responsibility. You should think everything over before getting married. When you are in love, you see everything in “blue colour”. But real life is not just honeymoon. Soon you will face everyday problems and understand that you are not ready for it. Misunderstanding is a problem that can prevent you from a happy life. Usually young couples don’t take it seriously. Most divorces are also made under 20.

Young people should think about children and the future of Ukraine. We can only agree with it. But we are also absolutely sure that Ukraine needs happy children in happy families. If a child sees family quarrels about money, or when parents decide whose turn is to go for a walk with him/ her, I doubt if he/ she can be happy.

At the end I want to say that marriage is a proper thing at a proper time.