Actually, there is evidence in Scripture to indicate that in the years between his appearing in the temple at the age of twelve and his first beginning his public ministry, he married and had a family.
Whenever women were named who were with Jesus, Mary Magdalene was always the first to be named. This included those occasions when she and Jesus' mother were both in the group of women.
This is called 'protocol'. In the greek language of that era if a man was single and women were named who were with him, his mother was always to be named first. However, if he was married and his wife was with him, she was always to be named first, even when his mother was also present. Mary Magdalene being named first in all the listings of women indicates that she was indeed Jesus' wife.
In John 20:16, Mary Magdalene called Jesus 'rabboni'. After the gospel was written someone included the explanation that 'rabboni' meant 'teacher', but that does not conform to the language of that era. Instead, 'rabboni' had three different synonyms, depending on who was saying the word. If a slave called a man 'rabboni', it meant 'master'. If a free man called a man 'rabboni' it meant 'teacher'. But if a woman called a man 'rabboni', it always meant 'husband'.
Jesus was identified as the perfect man by his apostles and disciples. And on what did they measure that perfection? They measured it on his having kept perfectly all the laws of Torah which applied to a person of his societal rank in Judaic society. He was a Jew, and his apostles and disciples were also Jews, whether some radical sects want to admit it or not.
This meant that he kept every one of the 613 laws found in Torah that he was responsible for keeping, and did it perfectly. One of those laws is to be found in Genesis 9:1-
Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth."
Marriage and the begetting of children was not seen as a "Maybe I will and maybe I won't" decision. It was a commandment, and in order to be seen as having obeyed all of the commandments required by God, it had to be accepted as a necessary responsibility. It doesn't matter how we view it from 2,000 years in the future. The facts are that in order for his apostles and disciples to credit Jesus as having obeyed Mosaic Law perfectly, they would have had to credit him as having fulfilled the commandment to marry and have children.
As for the time between his being found in the temple and his public ministry, we now know that since Herod the Great was still alive at the time of Jesus' birth, and lived for at least two years afterward, the timespan is not 18 years between the age of twelve and his beginning his public ministry, but instead is at least 24, and probably as long as 30 years.
The reason for this is due to our now knowing that Herod the Great's son, Herod Archelaus, ascended the throne in 4 BC. Since the real ruler of Judea was Augustus Caesar, and Herod Archelaus depended on roman legions to maintain the peace in Judea, Samaria and Galilee, that meant that he would have found it necessary to journey to Rome following Herod the Great's death in order to get Caesar's blessing. To ascend the throne without getting that blessing would be considered as an insult to Augustus Caesar.
This puts Herod the Great's date of death no later than 6 BC. The burial ceremony and the trip to Rome and back would have taken about 2 years. And since Herod the Great died of a prolonged and agonizing illness, it is doubtful that he would have received the magi while he was dying, so that puts the time of receiving them at no later than 7 BC, and in all probability much earlier.
Personally, I accept that 'The Star of Bethlehem' was actually Haley's comet, which passed by earth in 12 BC. Comets of this type brought both good news and bad news in eastern philosophy. It would have heralded the imminent death of a ruler, and also heralded the ascension of a new ruler to greatness.
This would explain why Herod was so upset at hearing that there was an infant born who was destined to rule over Israel. In order to have a viable birth, there had to also be a death, namely, Herod's own. The only way to reverse fate was to see to it that the birth and death both happened to the same person, namely, Jesus. That's why he ordered the massacre of the innocents.