Check out my guest post on The Toolbox at Lisa Kift Therapy….. teaching teenagers about the emotional aspects of dating. Here’s an excerpt:
We are all familiar with the public service announcements encouraging parents to talk to their children about drugs and alcohol, internet s
afety, and sex. I even saw one recently about safe driving habits like not texting or eating behind the wheel. But have you ever wondered why aren’t parents encouraged to talk about love and dating? I mean we know that when parents talk to their children about smoking and share their values about sex or alcohol that they can influence kids to make better choices. So why aren’t we being called to influence our children to make good relationship choices?
How to date may not seem like it should rank very high among the many other issues facing teenagers today. The use and abuse of drugs and alcohol, eating disorders and body image issues, and even the rise of cyber bullying all seem like greater threats to our children than dating the “wrong guy” (or girl). Yet when you consider that almost ¾ of all 8th graders are dating; and, according to the CDC, by high school more than half of them will experience some form of dating violence (either emotional, physical, or sexual) suddenly healthy relationships becomes a much higher priority on the “keeping our kids safe” list. In a world filled with distorted images of love and intimacy- ranging from unrealistic fairy tale romances to sexually explicit, emotionally detached affairs to violent and controlling examples of “love”- our children need guidance now more than ever. Read the full article here…