What parents can do to help prevent dating abuse

2012-08-06 16:23

分享到

 

Get Flash Player

Download

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Today we take another look at teaching young people how to build healthy relationships. Last week we told you about a new study in the United States. 15 percent of seventh graders in that study said they had experienced physical violence in a relationship with the opposite sex. Seventh graders are about 12 years old.

<BR>What parents can do to help prevent dating abuse

Concerns about dating abuse at such a young age are leading to new programs to teach 11 to 14-year-olds about healthy relationships. The northwestern state of Idaho has had a program for the last few years called Start Strong Idaho. Director Kelly Miller says healthy relationships depend on open, honest communication -- and that starts with communication between children and parents.

KELLY MILLER: "We need to connect with parents so parents understand that they are critical in terms of helping young people understand healthy relationships."

Ms. Miller advises parents to talk with their children anytime they can. Parent-child communication may not always prevent an abusive relationship between teenagers or preteens. But experts say it can reduce the risk. 75 percent of students in the study said they talk to their parents about the issue of dating violence.

A good time to have a conversation about a difficult issue is during a family meal or after watching a movie or television show together. Kelly Miller says young people need rules and boundaries. They also need the skills to be able to resist pressure to be on the phone all the time or to text when they should be sleeping.

The Start Strong Idaho website offers some advice. For instance, watch out for these signs that a phone could be part of an abusive relationship: Feeling like you have to answer text messages or calls right away. Feeling like the texts you receive have gone from caring to controlling. Being pressured to constantly be on your phone, even when you are with friends. And being pressured to send sexual texts or pictures.

Kelly Miller also tells young people not to write anything on Facebook that they would not want their parents or other family members to see. And she reminds them that there is no need to accept friend requests from strangers -- or to give your phone number to someone you don't know.

Start Strong Idaho holds separate workshops for parents and teens and also brings the two groups together. Kelly Miller says, during these meetings, families often learn things they never knew about each other.

KELLY MILLER: "One mom came up and said 'I'm so thankful there was this workshop tonight because I found out my son not only was dating but he currently has two girlfriends at the same time and didn't understand the problem with that."

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. You can read and listen to last week's program, and all of our programs for people learning English, at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Karen Leggett.

preteen: 青春期前的孩子;不满13岁的儿童

Related stories:

In treating athletes, is trainer's sex an issue? Sometimes it is

Websites put new face on business of seeking American husbands

May to December couples?

美国多地设立色狼禁区保护未成年人

(来源:VOA 编辑:实习生朱眉霖)

 

分享到

中国日报网英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883561联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。

中国日报网双语新闻

扫描左侧二维码

添加Chinadaily_Mobile
你想看的我们这儿都有!

中国日报双语手机报

点击左侧图标查看订阅方式

中国首份双语手机报
学英语看资讯一个都不能少!

关注和订阅

本文相关阅读
人气排行
搜热词
 
 
精华栏目
 

阅读

词汇

视听

翻译

口语

合作

 

关于我们 | 联系方式 | 招聘信息

Copyright by chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved. None of this material may be used for any commercial or public use. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. 版权声明:本网站所刊登的中国日报网英语点津内容,版权属中国日报网所有,未经协议授权,禁止下载使用。 欢迎愿意与本网站合作的单位或个人与我们联系。

电话:8610-84883645

传真:8610-84883500

Email: languagetips@chinadaily.com.cn