You might think that dating is a privilege of the young. But it doesn’t mean that people of older age can’t have fun on a dating scene. A world-famous show Sex and the city represents mature women having a great time while looking into the world of dating. But not only it’s in the media that we can see women of older age finding romantic affections and dating over 40.

A poll conducted in 2016 showed that older women experimenting with romantic interactions are not that uncommon. Moreover, ladies in their 40s and later in life tend to seek interactions with younger men. Be it a couple of years difference or a whole decade, it works for no less than 30% of females in their later years.

Feeling an attraction to an older woman is also a thing that men come across. About the same percentage of men confess to falling for mature, sophisticated women, though for many the age difference of no more than 4-5 years is vital.

For older women romantic life is not often a welcoming place. Society is not approving of ladies daring to break a used-to-be-common rule. A woman in her 40s is associated with a stable career and keeping the house. Although the stereotype about women being keepers of the household seems to be losing its value, in general, older women are still expected to be family-oriented rather than have boldness in seeking amorous adventure.

So what are the reasons for older women to commit to somebody less old and experienced than they are? Here we collected a number of ideas.

1. Young men are fun

When it comes to dating a man of the same age being 40 or over, you often find that what he has on offer is boring. A desire for new affairs is at times hiding weariness from routine. That’s why mature ladies are not so much attracted to men in the same age category. They are usually devoted to the work they do, stop evolving as a person and self-educating. The entertainment they can suggest is something that an older woman already has.

In order to make her life more versatile and full of new impressions, a woman looks into the world of junior-aged men. Especially if there happens to be a big age gap between partners, it may open a whole new world to both of them.

While senior ladies can still lead the life they are used to, having a younger boyfriend gives them the ability to escape everyday boredom when needed.

Younger men are more adventurous, they are ready to show you the world from their generation perspective. Some activities might not have been around before, so why not be dating a younger man and have it as a chance of learning something new. Men of a young age are also more active and sporty, so if a woman likes active pastimes, it will serve her interests as well. For instance, partners in age-gapped affairs can both go hiking or travelling by bike and attend dinner parties.

2. Women can share their experience

Having a long life behind your back, you definitely get a vast background. Your knowledge and everything you learn becomes your treasure. But for older women, it’s natural to desire sharing wisdom collected along the way and a younger man can become the ears to share it with. For a younger man, on the other hand, relationships with an older woman are a chance of learning a lot.

If you grew up in the 80-90s, you may become an object of fascination for a youthful person. The traits of the era are back in popularity. Films, music and especially fashion of the decades are back in the game. Nobody else rather than a person, who used to have it all as a part of everyday life can actually describe it.

If you are good at something your partner is especially interested in, your abilities in this sphere may become a thing to connect you more. Here is how it works:

• Having a similar hobby is a thing many couples are lacking, while being fascinated by the same activities will let you spend more time together.
• You will also always have a topic for communication, as well as support each other and be happy for achievements that you have.

Sharing experience is extremely important when a younger partner wants to learn everything first hands. It doesn’t only help to build a strong and long-term relationship, but it also provides some guidance through a huge amount of daily problems. When you are young, you already know something, but there are aspects of life that remain hidden. A senior woman can provide you with a lot of life lessons, give you an experience that cannot be found anywhere else, including communication and intimate parts of relationships.

3. Women learn a lot in return

While you might be the source of insights into the past, your younger man is the one who helps you keep up with society and modern tendencies. Contemporary pop culture is a lot different from what it used to be ten or twenty years ago, and it evolves a lot faster. If you haven’t been following it, it might be confusing and seem tasteless, but when you have a conductor into modern art and culture, accepting it is way easier.

Younger people nowadays are also more impulsive, multitasking and adventurous - these are the traits that can be useful at any age.

Taking risks and combining activities as well as being open to new beginnings is the ability you forget with age, and getting back to is a thing such relations can offer you.

Having different experiences helps you to participate in different activities together - modern dances, various sports, exhibitions and festivals. You see things from various points of view. While the experience of different generations may seem conflicting, it still helps the two of you share opinions and knowledge. The worst thing you can do is to be a boring adult with boring adult problems. Yes, daily life is full of troubles and you are much better at solving them than your younger partner, so be patient and remember that you were not born with all the experience.

4. Disapproval is no longer bothering

Being mature also influences the view you have on the opinion of others. While at a young age it is natural to care about your look in people’s eyes, older years give you protection against judgement.

What you fear the most in your early years, is disappointing your family, losing the connection you had with them. Older women have usually already figured out that their value in the family is not connected with their choice of partner, neither any life values can change that. If anything causes serious disagreements, it is solved by time or discussion.

As for friends and acquaintances, the fear of judgment and rumours also weakens with age. Usually, older women in relationships with young men find out their friends are less disapprobatory than was expected. Bringing a younger guy to social events might cause some jokes at first, but as they get to know each other better and find out he is not a lot different from them, teasing will go away.

It is very important to make it clear to others that your personal life remains personal, and no one from the outside has the right to dictate to you how and who to build a relationship with. Some people are still prone to stereotypes, although dating and relationships are equally suitable for everyone. The age gap between partners often helps to avoid many mistakes and at the same time prevents romance from fading away. Your young man helps maintain the light of adventurism, while you can channel a large amount of unbridled energy in a useful direction. This allows you to maintain a healthy balance in relationships, which is often difficult to find in couples of approximately the same age.

5. You don’t consider relationships as everlasting

Older women dating younger men have surely gone through break-ups and probably even divorce. This is worthy proof of love not lasting forever. It’s not a reason to value relations less. Vice versa, knowing an affair might end you appreciate every moment of it and it also makes the feelings more intense.

Perceiving relationships as something that might come to an end also brings up the idea of having to work on communication with the idea of making it last as long as possible. The backgrounds of older women allow them to bring the skill of maintaining intercourse.

For younger men such relationships are advantageous as well.

• Though it might not be easy from the beginning, as the relationship goes on it will give the opportunity to pick up skills and apply them later in life;
• Young men are not always willing to get the family and children fast;
• An affair with an older aged woman is the chance to get more practicality in life, and therefore the relationship is often considered as a stage;
• The conception of everything being temporary makes you not only value it more but take the whole life easier.

6. Younger guys have less baggage

Though collecting knowledge and using it for good is a great chance to make your relations last longer, too much baggage isn’t a thing that helps. Breaking up with previous significant others makes a person more suspicious about women. It is often the cause why a man pays attention to his date’s negative traits and neglects anything good.

Having less background gives an opportunity to look at every woman as on a new page. It also lets us imply more objectivity. Too much background can lead to a huge amount of bad experiences and disappointment in relationships. So sometimes being a blank page is much better. Also if an older woman had some issues with building relationships because in the past or she was treated badly, the idealism of youth can cure such things.

Therefore, while older men are going to suspect women in mercantile spirit and indifference, younger guys are still interested in your personality and believe your advantages can outweigh the bad sights.

Lack of experience, though, can also mean inability to solve conflicts. It takes both sides to negotiate and come to a certain conclusion, while if you haven’t mastered these skills, you might get confused when required to compromise. As said before, staying next to a woman who is significantly older and can distribute her wisdom will at some point help to learn more about the process of communication.

7. You get more independence

Young guys are often afraid of girls the same age because they acknowledge it requires a lot of commitment and attention from their side. Dating an older woman they can avoid it, as with age you start to realize the worthiness of independence and personal space. An older lady doesn’t want you to take over all her time and space, neither will she occupy the time and space of her partner.

Your age and experience give you credit for leadership. You choose when you are dating and where you invite him, you rule everything. If you have a car, you pick him up and take him wherever you want, if not, he should come to you, at the place you want. It is your choice either to delegate responsibilities for tonight or to lead it by yourself.

A younger man dating an older lady can actually learn to maintain a healthy relationship, no matter if they stay together later on or not. It will also be a motivation for a guy to get his life together.

Other advantages are:

• she doesn’t expect her boyfriend to text her often;
• she is fine with the idea of spending time apart;
• she has a lot of her own business to do.

Older women and younger men usually have the same opinion on independence, which makes it easier to communicate and work out a timetable of meetings, suitable for both partners. This means a woman doesn’t have to sacrifice her usual life in order to be sustainable for romantic interactions.