6 ways to raise respectful rather than abusive youth

Domestic abuse isn’t just an adult problem, teens are at risk too. Bekah Legg has ideas for how Christian families can equip kids to recognise, resist, and never perpetrate abuse in a culture desperate for healthy boundaries

When you think of domestic abuse, you probably have a picture in your mind. Maybe a woman with a bruised face, from a particular background. It might be informed by the TV programmes that you watch, perhaps it has an EastEnders influence.

What you probably do not imagine is a teenage girl or boy, yet the Office for National Statistics released data at the end of last year, which confirms that young people are facing disproportionately high levels of domestic abuse. Figures show that a significantly higher proportion of people aged 16 to 19 years (18.2%) and 20 to 24 years (12.9%) experienced domestic abuse last year compared with those aged 25 and over.

A parent’s greatest fear is their child being hurt, but we don’t often stop to consider that it could ever be our child doing the hurting

It’s something no parent wants for their child. Every parent wants to equip their child to recognise and stay away from abuse. They pray for protection and nervously watch as their teenagers begin exploring relationships, and hope it will never happen to their son or daughter.

But every parent also needs to think about equipping their child to not be on the other side of that abuse, to not perpetrate it. A parent’s greatest fear is their child being hurt, but we don’t often stop to consider that it could ever be our child doing the hurting. But statistically, it is some of our children, and we need to think about how we can ……