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Relationship education - what's most important to learn about?

AoifeAoife Community Manager Posts: 3,228 Boards Guru
in Sex & Relationships
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Hey everyone,

The Mix recently teamed up with the relationship support charity OnePlusOne and carried out an online survey to seek views from young people and parents about relationship education in schools.

The survey results found that relationship education is seen as important by both young people and parents. Young people feel it's important to explore different types of relationships, not just romantic relationships and the impact these relationships can have on themselves.

Young people agreed that they want to learn about abusive relationships (84.0%), how relationships can affect mental health (78.7%) and how to get out of a bad relationship (76.9%), but not from their parents; whereas parents' preference is to be the first port of call for teaching their children about relationships.

Which of these areas do you feel is most important to learn about and why?

If you're interested, you can read more about the survey results here.
Maybe somethings don't get better, but we do. We get stronger. We learn to live with our situations as messy and ugly as they are. We fix what we can and we adapt to what we can't. Maybe some of us will never fully be okay, but at least we're here. We're still trying. We're doing the best we can. That's worth celebrating too ❤

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 151 Helping Hand
    Hi Aife,

    It's definitely important to learn about relationship education as a whole, I think, particularly on distinguishing healthy relationships from unhealthy ones, and what you can do or where you can get support if you need it. It's understandable and natural that parents want to be their child's first port of call to teach their children about relationships, but I think that, if their child isn't comfortable learning from them, and would rather learn from professionals visiting schools, for example, then I think that it's more important to respect the child's feelings and teach them in that way. I don't think I'd be as willing to listen or learn, or if I would be able to, if I didn't feel comfortable hearing about it from certain people.

    On another note, I think it's more preferable to be taught these things by professionals/people that have a plethora of knowledge, rather than your own parents, because your parents may have biased or closed views on topics, based on their own experiences. That's completely fine, but I think it's better to be taught about all, or at least most, the different possibilities and opinions, so that the child can be more open-minded about certain situations, and better able to decide what is best for them as an individual.

    -peachysoo
  • SienaSiena Posts: 15,687 Skive's The Limit
    I think it’s important to learn about abusive relationships and more specifically about grooming& manipulation. Cause that can be quite hard to tell and abuser are quite clever into getting to do what want and controlling. And get stuck. So also good to know how to get outa relationship. I actually learnt most of my sexual education with the. NSPCC (child abuse org) cause I didn’t learn it enough in schoool and my parents didn’t help and I was pretty vulnerable. I think it’s really important to be taught it so we aren’t as vulnerable. But don’t feel it is taught enough
    “And when they look at you, they won't see everything you've been through. They won't see the **** that turned to scars that began to fade with time. They won't see the heartbreaking things that shook up and changed your entire world. They won't know how many tears you cried or even what it was you were crying about. They won't see how strong you had to be because you had no other choice. What they will see though is how compassionate you are because you experienced pain. What they will see is how kind you are because you experienced how cruel the world is. What they will see is how good you are because you've seen how bad things or people can be. The difference between you and your experiences are who you choose to be, despite everything that could have turned you cold and unkind.You are the good the world needs and the best of us.” ~ Kirsten Corley
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 90 Budding Regular
    Hi Aife,

    I feel that all these areas are equally as important to learn about because they are interconnected. If you have a good understanding of what constitutes an abusive relationship then you are more likely to be able to recognise it when you are in one. Equally if you understand the impact a relationship can have on your emotional health, you are in a better position to recognise when a relationship might be contributing to mental health problems and then if you also learn the strategies for leaving a bad relationship, you will be able to empower yourself and take action.

    -Lizzie
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