Dating Questions To Ask Your Teenager!How are things going?
What Are Your Friends' Dating Relationships Like?
Have You Ever Seen Any Kind of Abusive Behavior Between Two People Who Are Going Out?
Why Do You Think Someone Would Abuse Someone They Were Dating?
Why Might a Person Stay in an Abusive Relationship?
What Makes a Relationship Healthy?
What Can You Do If You Have a Friend Who Is Threatened—or a Friend Who Is Abusive?
What Kind of Messages About Dating Abuse and Relationships Do We See in the Media?
If Your Teen Is Dating Someone, Ask "How Is Your Relationship Going?"
Where Can You Go to Find Help If You or a Friend Needs It?
These are suggestions from Liz Claiborne's site Love Is Not Abuse. You may not want to use these exact questions, but it's highly recommended that you find time in your busy schedule to engage in conversation with your teen on this critical part of their life. The majority of parents whose teens were in violent relationships report that they were clueless.
What Are These Parents Thinking?
Why? Are they just not "good" parents? Hardly. And who are these people? They could be: YOU. ME.
Yes, there are some parents who are in abusive relationships themselves. However, many are attentive parents, but they miss the signs. And not because they are neglectful. Their teens are great at covering-up and many times doing so until it's too late.
We all need to learn better ways to educate ourselves as parents, first. Then we need not waste any time in sharing what we know with our teens. Really, as I stated in a previous post, the time should be LONG before they are teens.
So let me ask you, have you ever had conversation with your child about this subject? Have you openly trained your children to know what to "look" for in themselves as well as in others while in a relationship?
What Are These Teens Thinking?
We take for granted that our children know not to accept abusive behavior. The truth is many of these teens do not see it as abusive until long into the relationship. Even then they struggle that it is indeed a problem.
Remember, teens don't start their relationships with abuse at the front door. Abusers have an amazing way of charming their way in. Too, many of these young men, on the front side, do not know that they have an issue.
No, that doesn't excuse their behavior. However, it just shows us that the sooner we can begin to educate young boys and girls on the proper way to treat one other, the better chance we have of reducing the stats of dating violence.
The Danger Spreads
****As parents, we should be aware that not only will their child be in danger, but the entire family may find that they are in danger as well. In my case, my abuser often threatened to have my mother killed. Scary times!
NOTE: Let me restate, that the center where I worked were very proactive in helping young men/men overcome their addiction to anger/abuse. Like it or not, women are abused the most by men, not the other way around. Just note that men ARE abused, but just not in the large numbers women are.
RESOURCES FOR HELP!
Find out more about Liz Claiborne Inc.'s Love Is Not Abuse campaign at LoveIsNotAbuse.com
If you need help or know someone who does, call:
The National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline at 866-331-9474.
Or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE.
82 schools and organizations in the dfw area are using this curriculum!!!!
In the DFW area, I would recommend: Safe Haven of Tarrant County
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