What 23 year old woman would find a 16 year old boy attractive?
It is odd, but your son is a College Junior and She was just recently a College Senior. That's only a 2 year 'academic life experience' gap.
I think that best thing to do is get to know her and she what she's all about. See if you can get her to talk about her previous love relationships and childhood. And trust your gut. Our kids are unusual enough that they may not find many people in this world that they want to be that close to.
Everyone always says that 'girls mature earlier than boys' - and I do think that this is true in general from birth to puberty. But from my recent observations as mom of a 14 year old son, I think that once puberty hits, girls start to lag in the maturity department, particularly in comparison to boys who are coping well. Maybe boys are more of a bimodal distribution?
As a teenaged girl I couldn't stand my agemates from age 12 to about 20 with a few wonderful exceptions. There was a much wider group of boys I could interact with. Then around age 20 females started becoming interesting people again in larger numbers. I almost can't find a female over age 30 that I can't have at least one good conversation with. So there you have it: a bit of a wander, but I think that after puberty, boys mature faster.
BTW - Welcome - I'm so glad you found us! (How did you find us?)
Part of me wonders if you have some local friends you can talk this sort of thing over with, or if you've been isolated as a Mother. Generally we Mothers are going to have feeling about the first girl that our sons become involved with, so it's good to have a chance, here or in real life to talk to other Moms who have gone through this milestone.
It's so hard to know how negative you'd feel about any young lady your son is 'head over heels' with... ((hugs))
Grinity
