I believe that it's impossible to actually have an appropriate time to start showing interest in ithers. For some they are mature enough at 16. Others, theyare never mature enough. I know that I, at 17, am not ever ggoing to actually be ready for that kind of commitment. I believe that you shouldn't date unless you are thinking of marriage (old fashioned I know), and that the younger, the worse the idea when it comes to dating. But, to each his own.