Usually, the "running around" period is done outside of the amish community. Some of the teens are amish by day...wild and crazy by night. They sneak out and venture off to where ever their firneds are gathering. Some of the teens actually move away. They get apartmnets together, do whatever they can to get food and survive. Yes...they have to make a choice to be baptized or not. They can not live forever without deciding. If they decide not to, they do not associate with their families. I'm not sure they are allowed ot return. I will have to look more into that. I belive once you decide not to be baptized, the decision is final and there is no turning back. that may be why these kids have such a hard time deciding. If they have siblings, they usually are not allowed to see their siblings either. Its a tough decision to make.especially at such an early stage in their lives.
I will look into some psychological sources and see if I can find anything. Thanks!
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So when the kids do their running around period, they are doing this without the knowledge of their family? Because I thought leaving the sect was against the law in their culture from our past discussions. It sounds as if this is what all of the amish kids do at a certain point in their life. Is this true or do some automatically stay within the amish community without "running around". What percentage of kids "run around" versus ones that stay within the sect?
They do their running around from age 16-21. The parents actually encourage and allow them to do this. It is a part of allowing them to make the decision of rather they want to be baptized into the church. They are allowed to leave up until the point that they are baptized. After being baptized into the church, then they would not be "allowed" to leave. I'm not sure the percentage. I'll have to look into that.
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