1. Chapter 7: “Dating” Mrs. Karen Swope Family and Consumer Sciences
Columbian high School

2. Functions of Dating: Can help you get to know others
Can learn how others think and feel
Can learn about others goals and values

3. Functions of Dating: Can help you know yourself
By sharing ideas with another, helps you understand your own thoughts and feelings

4. Functions of Dating: Provides companionship
Date to be with someone
May attend a function with someone as to avoid going alone.
Companionship dating is based on friendship.

5. Functions of Dating: Improve communication skills
Dating provides an opportunity to talk and listen.
It is important to reach shared meanings to build any relationship.

6. Functions of Dating: Helps you learn to negotiate.
To negotiate fairly, one must learn to consider the other person’s opinion.
Both parties must learn to compromise.

7. Functions of Dating: Helps you learn to be responsible.
Dating provides opportunity to be responsible for decisions made.
Must be responsible for commitments made to each other.

8. Functions of Dating: Helps you evaluate personality traits
Dating helps you learn what personality traits you enjoy and those you don’t.
Helps you identify what you are looking for in a life-long mate.

9. Stages of the Dating Process:
Group dating: begins informally from being in a group situation.
Pair dating: from the group, two people may pair off.
Steady dating: two people committed to dating only each other.

10. Beginning a Relationship
Make your appearance count
Be friendly, confident, and courteous
Start a conversation, ask questions, be a good listener
Plan to spend more time together.

11. Evaluating a Dating Relationship
Evaluating helps you decide if you should continue in the relationship or not.
Ask yourself the following: do we enjoy being together? Can we compromise, solve problems together, and communicate openly? Can we share our thoughts?

12. Personal Boundaries
Personal boundaries are limits for behavior that you are willing to accept in your relationship.
This applies to what you will say or do.
This applies to what you will allow others to say or do to you.
If one person forces the other to do something outside of his/her personal boundaries, it is a sign of abuse.

13. Ending a Relationship
Realize your partner may feel hurt, be sensitive, show empathy.
Change some of your habits, avoid familiar places that remind you of each other.
Recognize feelings of pain, loneliness are normal.
Get involved in new things to meet new people.

14. Two Categories of Love INFATUATION (Romantic)
*strong feelings of attachment
*begins quickly, ends quickly
*based on physical traits
*tends to be self-centered, feelings of jealousy, doubt may be common
MATURE LOVE
*feelings become stronger as the relationship grows
*based on giving, unselfish attitude.
*leads to feelings of trust, self-confidence, security, happiness.

15. Ancient Greek Forms of Love
Philos: brotherly love, what close friends feel for each other.
Eros: sensuous feelings a couple may feel for each other
Agape: the giving, self-sacrificing kind of love; giving up something out of love for another.

16. Summary
In our culture, formal and informal dating serves many important functions.
Dating usually proceeds through several stages.
A couple’s attraction may be short lived based on romantic feelings or infatuation.
Mature love grows deeper as the couple spend time together, sharing their thoughts and feeling with each other and putting the other person first.
The ancient Greeks had their ideas on love.