There are many things my daughter has learned from my husband. She knows how to balance on his feet while he twirls her around a dance floor. She has been learned the joy of an absolute yes, and how to take a no. She has learned the beauty of wide open spaces and that her beauty is both inside and out. There are a great many things he has left to teach her. He will teach her to tie her shoes. To swing higher and faster on the swing. She will learn the name of all 29 teams in the NBA and how to shoot a free throw. From him, she will learn what it means to have someone save the day and be her hero.
One of the most important lessons he will ever teach her is in the way he loves her mother. In the way he honors me with respect and love and a generous portion of public displays of affection. Because, like all the little girls, the odds are good that one day she will fall in the love with a man who treats her much the way her father treated her mother. For good or bad. Research indicates that females exposed to domestic violence as children are more likely to be victims. On the flip side of that coin, males who are exposed to domestic violence as children are more likely to engage in domestic violence (Brown & Bzostek, 2003).
But domestic violence is not a ‘he’ or ‘she’ issue, it’s a ‘we’ issue. Women can be victims of domestic violence. Men can be victims of domestic violence. It’s both our responsibility to be the solution.
As women we can create an environment where our daughters, our sisters and our friends feel safe and comfortable discussing domestic violence. Men can take a leadership role among their peers and young men to say that domestic violence is never okay. Together we can serve as role models for sons and daughters and teach them how to practice healthy relationship habits early in life. Domestic Violence is a discussion that deserves representation for both sexes because no matter what side of the coin you’re on, no one is immune to it’s affects.
Blue Shield of California Foundation, one of the state’s largest philanthropies, is committed to combatting domestic violence through funding and public awareness. Its new #BeTheSolution campaign is spreading the message that domestic violence is everyone’s issue to tackle, all of the time—not just those who are actively experiencing or perpetrating it, and not just when an incident like the recent NFL scandal brings it to the public’s attention in a big way. Blue Shield of California Foundation believes that each of us can play a role in identifying, addressing, and stopping domestic violence in our personal lives and in our communities. Upload your own #BeTheSolution photo.
How will you #BeTheSolution?
This post is written on behalf of Blue Shield of California Foundation by me. All opinions are 100% mine.
Wow this post is so powerful. This is such a large issue and I commend you for bringing awareness to it.
What a great post! I think some people don’t realize how bad situations are when they are caught up in the middle. I hope I’m teaching my children that they are worth it and that if someone doesn’t see that then they don’t need them in their lives!
I think we all probably no someone (and we might not actually know it) who is/was a victim of domestic violence. We have to do a better job with this generation and those that follow regarding domestic violence. It HAS to stop.
This is a wonderful post. Children learn so much from the relationship their parents have.
Domestic Violence can be prevented, it starts with how parents teach their sons. If they learn at a young age not to hit they tend to keep that growing up. It can truly devastate the entire family.