what does "relationship" mean to you?

[LynneClomina]

so, what does "being in a relationhip" mean to you?

dating - just for fun, see where it goes...
courtship - gonna see if this is the right person...
engagement only - just friends, until such time as marriage comes up...
how serious is it when you say "i am in a relationship with so and so"?
how "far" do you think it's ok to go before marriage? (i'm not talking about sex, not really.
what is approprate behaviour between men and women pre-relationship and during "relationship", and "engagement"?

do y'all see what i am trying to understand???

thanks for all your imput, dudes and dudettes!!!

Lynne

 

[DatingSmarts]

when someone tells me they are in a relationship...I automatically assume they are in a man-woman relationship...but they are not married. they are not engaged. they are not formally exclusive...it is just an unspoken agreement between the two that they are not seeing anyone else except each other.

but let's get technical here:

everyone is in a relationship of one kind or another, even people who are not dating anyone.

for example, there is a parent child relationship; student teacher relationship; friends; family relationship; group relationship; co-workers; bosses; priest,rabbi or minister to parishioner; there is a relationship one has with God; and, some have a relationship(s) with the saints.

there are different kinds of relationships and the people in the relationship must define what TYPE of relationship they have.

 

[DatingSmarts]

sometimes people are not on the same page of what kind of relationship they have.

and as the relationship progresses and the people mature, the relaitonship will change with it.

for example, a parent-child relationship changes over the lifetime of the parent and the child.

the way you treat an infant is different than the way you treat a teenager or an adult.

even as a child, you change the way you treat it as the child grows from infancy to toddlerhood to small child to juvenile to teen ager to college kid to young adult to adult. and then it changes again when the child marries or has kids of their own. so the boundaries of the relationship have to change over time.

relationships are dynamic and changing.

 

[DatingSmarts]

When I say 'being in a relationship,' for me it means: I am in a dating relationship with a man. It could mean that he is my bf, or maybe I want someont to think that he is mine, but he may not be mine and i may not be his. But it does mean that he is courting me. I want to be in more than one relationship at the same time...

bad ds
bad ds
lol

 

[LynneClomina]

ya, i was thinking more man/woman relationships.... like at what "level" are they termed relationships, or "become" relationships.... that kind of thing.

thanks for the input, DS!

 

[jenptcfan]

I think that after it's understood that a person I'm dating and I are not seeing other people, I consider it a relationship. Before that point, it's just casual dating to see if it's capable of going forward.