As a parent your main objective in life is to protect your child. This task becomes extremely difficult as they grow older and enter into their teens. Friends, boys, and not being seen with you become their main objective. There has been an increasing amount of teens being abused in their relationships. It is one of the most overlooked growing epidemics in today's society. Our teenagers are becoming battered women before they actually become women. Over 90% of teens have reported being abused at one point by their teenage boyfriends. The percentage is alarming. Teenage girls are being beaten, raped, stalked, emotionally abused, and even murdered at the hands of their teenage boyfriends. If your teenager is moody or distant it may be more than just hormones. It may be signs of a teen in an abusive relationship.
In a world full of MySpace, text messaging, and broken homes the obvious signs of teen abuse may be difficult to notice. Teen abuse signs are not as clear-cut as adult abuse is often considered. If you're not paying close attention and closely involved in your teen's life you will miss the signs. Most adult relationships do not consist of text messaging, MySpace emails, comments, or massive amounts of free time. However, in the world of teenagers this is true. Many teenage abusive relationships consist of constant text messages in an aggressive emotionally abusive manner. MySpace emails and comments are sent on a consistence basis to control and manipulate. Teens in abusive relationships unlike adults are usually in complete access to their abuser 24/7. They attend the same school, sit in class together, eat lunch together, and after school they find ways to hang out. Your teen can be at home sleep and the teen abuser can text or message them at all hours of the night. Signs of your teenager being in an abusive relationship can be very subtle if you are not paying close attention. If your teen gets constant texts within one hour from their boyfriends it can be a sign of abuse. Even if they seem innocent at first abnormal texting is the first sign of a teen that can possibly become out of control. A clear sign of an abusive teen relationship is yelling, cursing, insulting comments, humiliating, manipulating, controlling, verbal threats of violence, hitting, grabbing, rough affection, stalking, and cyber-stalking.
Most teenage girls feel that there is no escape from their abusive relationship and no one to confide in. To be open to the signs that your teen is in an abusive relationship you really need to have a good relationship with your teen. Make sure she knows she can talk to you about her relationship. Always tell you teen that you support her and will never judge her. Teenage girls feel awkward about confiding in their parents about abuse because they do not want to be judged or scolded. They think their parents will not be on their side or understand. Keep the lines of communication open in your relationship with your teenager. Let them know soon as they become involved with a new boyfriend that if there is ever a problem it is okay to talk to you about it.
Eliminating the fear and apprehension is the key to protecting your child. Monitoring the cell phone usage and occasionally checking the MySpace profiles is also important. Many abusive teenage boys post controlling, hurtful, or jealous comments as well as texts on a consistent basis. If your teen begins to show signs of being abused intervine immediately. Show them that they are not alone in this situation and you will be there every step of the way.
