Day 4: Modeling Healthy Relationships
Safe & Sound is a free 21-day program to help parents, grandparents and caregivers protect children from abuse. Developed by Oregon Child Advocacy Centers, this Safe & Sound program for Central Oregon is brought to you by KIDS Center in collaboration with Protect Our Children.
Welcome to Day 4 of Safe & Sound!
Today we’re talking about healthy relationships.
Did you know that healthy relationships can help protect children from child abuse? When your child is able to observe healthy relationships and can experience their own healthy relationships, they are better able to understand when a relationship is unhealthy. Help your child recognize the red flags of an unhealthy relationship, and you make it much harder for an offender to gain your child’s trust.
Teaching your child about relationships
You teach your child about relationships every day.
We have so many opportunities to demonstrate healthy relationships to our kids. It begins at home, when a child is still in infancy, but can continue until, well, forever. The person (or people) caring for a young child teach early lessons about love and trust. As a parent, grandparent or caregiver, your relationship with your child serves as a foundation for many of the other relationships your child will experience—with friends, extended family, teachers, coaches, managers and romantic partners.
What do healthy relationships look like?
Healthy relationships are built on trust, honesty, compromise, individuality, anger control, good communication, and mutual respect. Talk about these characteristics with your child, and try to model these in all of your relationships.
Recognize the red flags of unhealthy relationships.
It’s also important to help your child recognize the red flags of an unhealthy relationship. These red flags can pop up in any relationship at any age, so it’s never too early to talk about them. Some red flags are:
Manipulation: when a person tries to control your decisions, actions, and even your emotions
Possessiveness: when a person is so jealous that they try and control where and how you spend your time
Sabotage: when a person tries to ruin your reputation or undermine your success
Belittling: when a person puts you down to make you feel bad about yourself
Betrayal: disloyalty or being intentionally dishonest
Today’s Activity and Conversation Starters
Watch the recommended video(s) and have a conversation about the relationships in your child’s life.
Young kids: Watch the video Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood | Friends Help Each Other (Song) | PBS KIDS
Younger school-age kids: Watch the video Friendship Soup Recipe: A NED Short
Conversation Starter
Has anyone ever made you sad? What did they do?
Who loves you? What do they do that shows that?
Older school-age kids: Healthy vs Unhealthy Relationships
Conversation Starter
How do you choose a friend?
What do you think makes a friendship or relationship healthy?
Tweens and teens: Watch these videos What Makes A Relationship Healthy?; What Teens Think About: Healthy Relationships; That's Not Cool TV
Conversation Starter
How do you know you can trust someone?
Can you point to a relationship you know of that you consider “healthy?”
That’s it for Day 4! See you tomorrow!
More ways to participate in Safe & Sound:
Visit the 2024 Safe & Sound page and catch up on daily activities.