Teen Dating Violence - Prevention
Starting off this blog, we will do a little recap of our previous post. As mentioned, the month of February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. Last week, we examined the warning signs that a teenager may be a possible victim of teen dating violence. In part 2 of this 3-part series, we will look at aspects of preventing teen dating violence within our communities.
- Model and Discuss Healthy Relationships: Children learn a lot and model their own behaviors after their environment. Therefore, it is important to be able to talk about and show your teen what a healthy relationship is. This can be in many forms from talking about consent (can be done at age-appropriate levels!), establishing boundaries (both physical and emotional), and having open communication streams so your teen knows who they can turn to if they have questions or concerns. Next week, we will dive a bit deeper into what a healthy relationship looks like.
- Listen to Your Child: As you may be able to imagine, discussing the negative parts of your relationship with your parent are difficult, much more so for a teenager. So, it is very important that if your child is coming forward with concerns you listen non-judgmentally to their concerns. Letting your child know that you are there to discuss their relationship allows can help in preventing victimization (or further victimization if they have already been victimized).
- Teach Them to be an Active Bystander: Often, teens may not want to trust an adult with the information that they are being victimized. Therefore, it is important to teach your teen what to do if a friend discloses that they may be a victim of teen dating violence. If your teen does know anyone who is being victimized, they can call the National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline at 1(866)331-9474.
Prevention of Teen Dating Violence can look differently for everyone. However, utilizing the skills above can help the teens in your life. Next week, we will discuss further on what makes a relationship healthy.