Is it normal and okay for teenagers and adults to have friendships?

Oh I changed my answer when I read what you wrote. No married man wants to be. .....just friends with a sixteen year old sacred child. She might think he understands her problems and he is a prince.......but he just wants sex from her. She probably doesn't realize it yet but he is manipulating her.

Well first off as to the 17-19 year age group it is only a year from becoming an adult at 18 and yes being friends with someone that is an adult is ok but you have to remember that someone that is in their early to mid twenties and even at 29 does not have that much more wisdom or experience then a person that is 17-19 year age range due to the fact that they don't have that much experience in dealing with life as say that of a person that is in their mid 30s up into old age just as a person that is in their 30s does not have the wisdom or experiences of someone that is in their 40s to 60s range and this includes mentally, emotionally and physically.

Besides what a person has experienced mentally, emotionally and physically as an older adult and gained experience and wisdom through it, a younger adult cannot even begin to handle that without the guidance of an older adult that has the experience and wisdom from those years of living.

This can be seen in this world today with the single mothers that are in their teens and even into early adulthood that got pregnant and are raising them alone. Yes they gained experience through that but not the wisdom to cope with it and what happened to the guys that told them that they would be there to help raise the child?

The problem today is that young adults are so busy chasing after what they want, that they just let what they need pass them right on by or they get what they need in their lives only to let it slip right through their fingers because they saw something that they thought was better only to discover it was nothing more then a want. You can liken it to an older person that has experience and wisdom as being like a diamond and a younger person that has little experience and wisdom as being like a rhinestone.

How many young adults have thrown away a precious gem for a rhinestone? I personally have seen younger people do just that.

It is normal and healthy for teens to have adult friends. HOWEVER, a friendship with a person of the opposite sex always requires care, and especially if the person is married and/or a lot older than you.

Teen girls SHOULD have adult female friends, and teen boys SHOULD have adult male friends. This is part of the older generation passing on things we've learned to those who can benefit from them most, which would be young people about to enter adulthood. It's not all one-sided, either. Teens have a lot to offer adults, not only knowledge-wise, but the advantage of a fresh perspective, energy, and friendship -- which everyone needs.

Now opposite sex friendships . . . I have many male friends. I'd say these men are good and close friends to me, but I would not customarily meet with any of them in a situation that didn't involve their wives or at least some of the other men. In other words, even though they're all a lot younger than me, I wouldn't think it appropriate for me to hang out with them as they would hang out with one another, or as their wives and I would hang out and socialize with each other.

On occasion, if the occasion called for it, we might be together away from other company. For example, if I happened to run into one of them in a coffee shop, I'm sure neither of us would see anything wrong with sitting together and having coffee -- but not as a matter of custom. We wouldn't make a practice of it.

For you, the situation is more serious. Even if a man is 10 years older, that's not really all that much. And if he's married, he has absolutely no business hanging out with a 17 year old girl. Even if he's not, it would be wiser for him to at least wait until she's 18, even if he's "not sexually interested." Even if he isn't now, he's likely to change his mind at some point if he finds her company pleasant.

The girl you where talking about seems to have a daughter father relationship with an adult. Their is noting wrong with that. But I do believe that young teenagers should not be hanging around to much with adults. But I do approve of older teenagers, the 17-19 age range. They have to start the transition of becoming adults and hanging with them is the first step. At family parties I made the transition of starting to talk to the adults and not the kids at age 16. But I would start to socialize with the males and I am a male. So my final answer on whether it's normal for teenagers and adults to have friendships is yes. If they aren't friends they are enemies. Who wants that?

In my church there's plenty of that. I alone am 24 and I enjoy hanging out with teens because that's just the maternal nurturing side in me. There is a sense of appreciation when I find that the wisdom I've learned brings encouraging edification to the youth. A favorite quote: "The soul is healed by being with children." -Fyodor Dostoevsky. My church has a sense of oneness, so everybody treats everybody equally and harmonizes. That's it, harmony. That's what makes it okay for different ages to hang out together. Now when there's no harmony, there are exceptions: In my experience when I was a teen I was neighbors with this older man who I now to this day is someone to stay away from. But let me tell you there never was harmony among him. I think people are able to come together best when they know God and have a healthy relationship with Him. The man I was neighbors with doesn't know God. I'm no longer a teen and I still stay away from him! There are some folk that never want to be healed from their troubles. But like I said, it's fine as long as its pure for different ages to come together. Another words: as long as its not for sinister reasons. Just brotherly harmony.