Longing for a Family: Am I Ready?

It could honestly be a mixture of both. You're longing for attention, affection, and the desire to be loved by another. That's where you craving a boyfriend comes in, especially since you've never had one. If you had one and the two of you became really close, then they'd be like family for you. So boom, boyfriend and family issue would be solved. As for you wanting children, it could be you genuinely want them and your hormones are making that desire intensify. Yet on the other hand that desire to have them could of been instilled in you from your mother saying she wants grandchildren. Either way I'd wait on having children considering your age. Give it some years until you're in your early 20s and have a less likely chance of outside influences from your mother, before you consider having children.