To keep yourself healthy, your relationships need to be healthy, too. This can include partners, spouses, parents, siblings, or others you live with. Unfortunately, some relationships are abusive – emotionally, physically, and/or sexually.
Relationships can go from healthy to unhealthy, and it can be hard to figure out what changed. What was healthy in one relationship might not be in the next relationship.
Warning signs that your partner (or someone else in your life) may be going in the wrong direction:
- Checking your phone or email without permission.
- Putting you down.
- Jealousy.
- Bad temper.
- Isolating you from family and friends.
- Blaming you for things you didn’t do.
- Telling you what to do.
- Physically hurting you in any way.
- Pressuring you to have sex.
Your child needs you to be safe and happy, and unhealthy relationships can be very damaging for your child to be around.
Be aware of all adults that your child is spending time with, including when you are not around. If your child really doesn’t seem to like someone, that can be important information. Relationships can be complicated, and disliking someone may be a sign of other issues. It is useful to be on the lookout for signs of child abuse and neglect.
If you are in a relationship, but are unsure if it is healthy, try the quiz “How do you know if your relationship is healthy?” The quiz asks you questions about your relationship; then it uses your answers to create a total score and help you know if you may be in an unhealthy relationship.