With a New Year (and new decade) recently starting, many people have made and started on their new year’s resolutions. For most people, the resolution is to lose weight, pay off debts, or get organized. This year though, we at The Safe Place want to challenge parents to a new, different goal. We would like you to make your resolution to help end domestic violence through your children!
You are probably wondering how you can end DV (domestic violence) through children – here’s how. Most of the time, domestic violence is a cycle, carried on for several generations because children grow up thinking DV is normal and okay to do in their own relationships. So, teaching your children from a young age to be caring, compassionate, and to be kind to everyone around them is one of the most important things that can be done to help end domestic violence.
You can do this by having short conversations with your children about love and respect, helping your child find healthy ways to cope when they are angry, or even just having a quality family dinner with your children every night. Something as simple as having a family dinner can make a big difference because it gives your child or children a chance to open up about what is going on with them, or even about some sort of violence they are seeing at school.
Another key thing is to teach by example. You can talk to you children until you are blue in the face, but unless they see you and your family living by example, they will never truly learn kindness and respect, so make sure you are showing the same kindness and respect you are talking to them about every day.
Another thing you can do to help end DV is to learn the signs of domestic violence, and maybe teach your child some of these things. Our page has a lot of information about what domestic violence is and what it looks like; familiarize yourself with this information and start to look for it in your community. In teaching some of these signs to your children, they can know what things they need to avoid when they get older, or maybe even spot this type of violence in the schools and put an end to it by letting an adult know what is going on.
Knowing how you can help end domestic violence in your community will make a huge impact on DV rates in your area, but teaching your kids how to be kind, respectful, and loving to everyone they come in contact with will help their future and help keep DV rates down for years to come. We at The Safe Place hope you accept this as your new year’s resolution for 2020 and wish you the best of luck!
If you or anyone you know needs help with escaping domestic violence, contact The Safe Place at 501-354-1884. You can also call the Crisis Line at 1-888-554-2501 or our Perryville location at 501-889-2030.
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