It’s never too early to talk to your teens about healthy relationships and dating violence. Starting conversations– even if you don’t think your teen is dating – is one of the most important steps you can take to help prevent dating violence.

Helpful tips for parents:

• Do your own research on teen dating violence to get the facts before talking to your teen. Start with the information and resources on thesafespace.org.
• Provide your teen with examples of healthy relationships, pointing out unhealthy behavior. Use examples from your own life, television, movies or music.
• Ask questions and encourage open discussion. Make sure you listen to your teen, giving them a chance to speak. Avoid analyzing, interruptions, lecturing or accusations.
• Keep it low key. Do not push if your teen is not ready to talk. Try again another time.
• Be supportive and nonjudgmental so they know they can come to you for help if their relationship becomes unhealthy in the future.
• Admit to not knowing the answer to a particular question. This builds trust.
• Reinforce that dating should be fun! Stress that violence is never acceptable.
• Discuss options your teen has if they witness dating violence or experience it themselves.
• Remind your teen that they have the right to say no and must respect the rights of others.
• If your teen is in a relationship that feels uncomfortable, awkward or frightening, assure them that they can come to you. And remember – any decisions they make about the relationship should be their own.
• Contact Break the Cycle for helpful materials and find out if there are dating violence prevention programs in your community that can support you and your teen.

Starter questions:

• Are any of your friends dating? What are their relationships like? What would you want in a relationship?
• Have you witnessed dating violence at school or among friends? How does it make you feel? Were you scared?
• Do you know what you would do if you witnessed or experienced abuse?
• Has anyone you know posted anything bad about a friend online? What happened afterwards?
• Would it be weird if someone you were dating texted you all day to ask you what you’re doing?