{"id":430855,"date":"2026-09-09T18:18:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T18:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/430855\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T18:18:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T18:18:23","slug":"teen-dating-abuse-warning-signs-what-san-antonio-parents-need-to-know-this-back-to-school-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/430855\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen dating abuse warning signs: What San Antonio parents need to know this back-to-school season"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Back-to-school season brings new friendships, and sometimes new romantic relationships. <\/p>\n

Local advocacy groups say parents should be ready to have honest conversations with their kids about what a healthy relationship looks like.<\/p>\n

Mandy Majors, founder of nextTalk, says the parent instinct to say \u201cno\u201d to dating can backfire. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think from a mom perspective, what we want to do is say, like, forbid that relationship. But then that often leads to a lot of sneaking and rebellion,\u201d Majors said.<\/p>\n

nextTalk<\/a> is an advocacy group focused on online safety for parents and children. Majors says open communication between a parent and child is crucial to protecting kids from potentially dangerous relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an unhealthy relationship, that is prime position for domestic abuse to take place, because then they don\u2019t feel safe with us,\u201d Majors said.<\/p>\n

Research shows<\/a> dangerous or unsafe relationships are most common among people ages 11 to 24.<\/p>\n

Dee Dee Said, founder of local nonprofit Positively Impacting Communities, says the media landscape plays a role in normalizing harmful behavior.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think exactly with social media and the influences that are around kids nowadays, you know, like reality TV, it\u2019s sarcasm and people don\u2019t recognize how much that\u2019s hurtful to somebody else,\u201d Dee Dee said.<\/p>\n

Dee Dee is also a survivor of an abusive teen dating relationship. She says these relationships rarely start with obvious red flags.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s subtle. It\u2019s usually a relationship that starts great, right, like we\u2019re not going to continue dating somebody that\u2019s mean to us right off the bat,\u201d Dee Dee said. \u201cThere are derogatory comments that start, side remarks, and so the person in that relationship \u2014 something in it starts to feel off, but they don\u2019t understand what.\u201d<\/p>\n

Signs of abuse: What to watch for<\/p>\n

Advocacy groups say it\u2019s important for parents to understand what different forms of abuse can look like, even if their child is not allowed to date.<\/p>\n

Verbal abuse can include yelling, threats or sarcasm directed at a partner.<\/p>\n

Emotional abuse may look like being followed, a partner threatening to harm themselves, gaslighting or intense jealousy.<\/p>\n

Physical abuse can include pushing, grabbing, hair pulling or being pinned against a wall.<\/p>\n

Majors says the most important thing parents can do is keep the door open \u2014 no matter what.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever you do, keep the lines of communication open. Your kids should always feel safe. And you can say, I\u2019m worried about this relationship, but I love you and I\u2019ll support you kind of thing,\u201d Majors said.<\/p>\n

Resources for teens, parents<\/p>\n

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence or teen dating abuse, resources are available here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

You can also call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Back-to-school season brings new friendships, and sometimes new romantic relationships. Local advocacy groups say parents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[43474,6527,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-430855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-back-to-school","tag-ksatkids","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}