What Is Respect in a Relationship?
Most people want to enjoy health and relationships. A relationship can affect health for good or bad. Respect is vital to relationship health.
Respect means things such as good boundaries and communication. Respect also means to treat a person as an equal. But what does respect mean in daily life?
To show respect in a relationship can mean to:
- Be fair with time and money.
- Honor consent when it comes to affection and intimacy.
- Show the person that you care and that he or she is important to you.
- Tell someone if he or she makes you happy and show appreciation.
- Stay active in making important decisions.
- Consider options and listen to what someone is saying.
- Do not threaten or shut someone down.
To behave with respect can also mean to:
- Support the other person in meeting his or her needs.
- Participate in things in which the other person has interest.
- Invite, instead of demand, things or responses.
- Be honest and safe, and expect the same from the other person.
- Never hurt someone on purpose.
- Value the other person’s privacy by not trying to find out passwords in order to check on phone calls and social media messages.
- Be trustworthy and do not spy on a person to see who he or she is with or what he or she is doing.
If it is hard to respect a person or you do not feel that you get respect, it may be time for a healthy breakup. This must be based on respect and may include points in bold from the above lists.
To find the domestic abuse program nearest you, visit http://www.pcadv.org/ and click on Find Help or use the Find Help map on the home page.
To reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline, call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) (TTY 1-800-787-3224).
A teen may call the National Dating Abuse Helpline to talk to a teen or adult: 1-866-331-9474 (TTY 1-866-331-8453) or visit the websites: http://www.loveisrespect.org/
http://www.thatsnotcool.com/