Relationships
Healthy Relationships
The ABCs of Healthy Relationships: Awareness, Balance and Choices, includes information, skill building and value clarification activities, as well as resources and conversation starters. Use The ABCs as your guide when evaluating your current relationships and developing new ones later in life.Relationships can play a major role in our lives, especially during the teen years. However, not all relationships are healthy. Sometimes we associate with people who may not have our best interests in mind. It's vital that you learn to recognize a healthy relationshipfrom a harmful one.
Casual relationships are those you have with the people you encounter every day - who are not friends, family members or people with whom you have an intimate relationship. For example, one person may be a teacher or some new guy or girl you don't yet know. You might wonder why it is important to have a healthy relationship with someone you barely know.
Everyone needs friends, and you probably have always had at least one. A friend is defined as a person you know well and regard with affection, trust and respect. As you get older, some of your friendships will start to change, and some may grow deeper. You might also begin to know many more people, although not all of them will be your close friends. Chances are you will also start to spend more time with your friends, and maybe talk on the phone more. Changes in relationships are natural but not always easy.
Many people think that "intimate" means being physically intimate, such as being in a sexual relationships. However, an intimate relationship can be with anyone who you are really close to and with whom you can be completely open and honest. Intimate relationships afford you the opportunity to grow as an individual.
Now let's talk about romantic relationships, which, unfortunately, are not always intimate relationships. In a healthy romantic relationship, both partners respect each other and have their own identity. Each partner is an entire individual, not simply part of a couple. Just as peer pressure can negatively impact a friendship, partners can overpower each other and create instability in a romantic relationship.
As preteens become teenagers and enter adolescence, new kinds of relationships emerge. Friends may find themselves attracted to each other in ways they were not before, and they may become closer, or grow apart. Either way, relationships are bound to change during the teenage years, especially in the area of romance.
is for awareness
Awareness means:1. Using what you know to respect others and demand respect.
2. Awareness is knowledge of the consequences of unhealthy relationships and recognizing danger signs, as well as knowing what your boundaries are. Preventing violence by recognizing a lack of power and respect, requiring that you apply the knowledge you have to change unhealthy relationships into healthy ones.
3. Basically, awareness means knowledge of all aspects of a relationship. This knowledge can be gained through teachers, counselors, older friends, the Internet and books all can help you find the information you need.
is for balanceBalance means:
being in synch with your partner and having a relationship that is not one-sided -- meaning that one person has more control or power than the other.
Communication is key to staying in balance.
You have to both listen and talk to what somebody else wants, and they'll listen to what you have to say. Both people need to recognize that they each have valuable opinions, and then work together to balance their desires. You and your friends probably have similar interests, but you are not completely the same.
The same is true for your family and your boyfriend or girlfriend. You can certainly do things together, but remember that you can have different interests, too. Make sure you have time to do these things. If you change in a relationship and adopt all of the other person's favorite things, hobbies and lifestyle, the relationships become unbalanced, and it is a very bad sign.
is for conscious choicesConscious choices include being able to decide what the next step in a relationship is, making sure things don't "just happen," which is a common excuse teens use for getting into emotional or sexual situations they don't know how to handle. Choices mean being able to take control.
In order to be aware, balanced, and make healthy choices, you need the building blocks of The ABCs: communication, trust and respect. They are the keys to a healthy relationship and are at the base of The ABCs.
The Teen Resource website is funded through the Georgia Department of Community Health - Adolescent Health and Youth Development Program.