Hi @HoosierBoiler ,
Thanks so much for your post - I think you raise a really interesting issue here, and I hope you don't mind but I'm also just tagging in a few of our active members with teenage kids, who may be able to speak more directly to this from their personal experiences with their kids @compassion , @Dadof4kids , @JAKGR8 , @Faob_1 .
I think you are absolutely spot on, and that part of talking to our teens about respectful relationships also needs to include how to sensitively communicate to people when they think that they may not have the same level of interest as someone else, or if they want to move on from a romantic relationship.
From what you've written here, it sounds like the relationship between your teen son and his girlfriend is still in that grey area between a friendship, and a romantic relationship, is that right?
Our ReachOut Parents site has a resource that I thought you may find helpful, on helping teenagers to navigate and form respectful relationships, which I've linked to here for you. I think it's excellent that you're thinking about how to help your son build these skills, forming healthy relationships can be such a huge part of the teenage years.
Do you think his girlfriend is wanting more from the relationship than he is at the moment?
