Sunshine - Don’t confuse love and abuse *For ages 15 and over...*

What stands out

Elements showing the beginning of a romantic relationship:

• Sending love notes.
• Offering flowers, stuffed animals.
• Wanting to physically please the other.
• Kissing each other.
• Wanting to spend time with each other.

Elements that show an unhealthy romantic relationship, control of one person over another:

• He is jealous of the florist who offers his girlfriend a flower and does not want her to accept it.
• He chooses how she must dress.
• He does not want her to have fun with his friends without him.
• He decides what she must eat (e.g.: vegetables instead of her hamburger).
• He texts her negative, even hateful, comments on his smartphone.
• He gets angry if she is with another boy and shouts at her.
• She feels trapped in the relationship and is afraid of him (e.g.: running around in a maze, feeling like she's drowning, etc.).

Stimulus questions

• What do you think of this video?
• Why do you think this boy is acting like that?
• What can be done to help this girl assert herself more with her "boyfriend"?
• What can be done to help this boy stop his controlling and abusive behaviors?
• Can the opposite be possible (e.g.: a boy who is "controlled", even abused, by his "girlfriend"?)