February is National Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month.

ANNOUNCING 28 TIPS FOR 28 DAYS

I’ve always been a romantic. As a teen, you could hand me a story about two people dying for love and I was all in. (Romeo and Juliet, anyone?)

But now I know a few things I didn’t know back then. I know of a friend who married her boyfriend because he threatened to kill himself if she broke up with him. I know about a fifteen-year-old boy who went to the same school as my nieces who killed his ex-girlfriend and then himself.

I’ve learned things over the years that have affected me so deeply I wrote a book called Die for You. It’s the story of two teens, very much in love, until Emma gets an opportunity to travel abroad. Dillon is afraid that if she leaves, she might not come back. He’ll do anything to keep her with him. Even if it means dying for her.

The novel is fiction, but the problem is all too real. In a class of 30 high school students, 10 will experience some form of relationship abuse. Before I began researching Die for You, I had no idea it was so widespread.

Maybe you didn’t know that either.

Maybe too many of us don’t know.

February is National Teen Dating Abuse Awareness Month.  In honor of #TeenDVMonth, and in the hopes of helping to shine light on dating abuse, I’m posting 28 Tips for 28 Days. Stop by each day and discover stats that may shock you. Tips that can help you. Links that can save a life.
Knowledge and understanding are our best weapons in fighting what has become a silent epidemic among teens. Let’s get started right now:
Day 1, Tip 1:

Dating abuse strikes teens—boys & girls—from all type of homes, families, cultures. Don’t assume your teen is safe: Be sure they are. Click the link for more information:  http://www.loveisrespect.org/