Going Steady

When a boy and girl date only each other to the exclusion of anyone else, they are said to be “going steady.” This is something new in dating practice. In former generations a courting pair might be “keeping steady company,” but this usually meant that they were serious enough about each other to be planning marriage. Going steady nowadays frequently implies no such commitment to the future. It may come very early in a relationship. It may involve “an understanding” before getting pinned or engaged, or it may simply be a matter of mutual convenience with no plans or prospects for the future.

Going steady is a controversial question about which both young people and adults feel strongly. Some openly and vigorously oppose it. Others champion it quite as strongly. Many young people are genuinely confused about it.

Teen-agers have many questions about why adults tend to oppose going steady, about when to start going steady, about how to keep from going steady, and about how to get back in circulation again after breaking off with a steady. These are all important questions. The answers are not simple but they are discussable.

HOW ADULTS SEE IT

Some parents prefer their sons and daughters to go steady rather than to play the field. These parents state that they feel much safer when a son or daughter dates someone they know and like instead of a series of comparative strangers.

Far more numerous and vocal are the parents and adult leaders who oppose going steady. A particularly vigorous attack on the practice was made recently by the Director of the Family Life Bureau of the National Catholic Welfare Conference who was quoted in the press as saying:

Going steady is pagan unless there is a reasonable chance of getting married within two years. The teenage custom will have to be stopped if the concept of Christian marriage is to be saved.