I always like to swim against the flow, so i guess its normal that i like the actual thing better... it IS so that he is way too young in the beginning, she pretty much sees him growing up, thats one of the things that makes it a bit normal that she needs so much push when he is older.
And age difference... so what? If he is like 6 when they met and she 16, thats 10 years, at the point where he is about 20 or so that is totally fine, nothing wrong with it just because its the other way around this time (no one bats an eye about 30 year old guys with 20 year old women after all...)