Self-Love – The first step before learning to love someone else is to love yourself. As a caring adult, try encouraging youth to practice positive thinking. It’s important for youth to treat themselves with respect before entering a relationship.

• Handy Tips: Practice self-love by telling yourself one positive thing about yourself every day. Make it a habit to treat yourself with kindness.

Consent – Consent is crucial in any healthy relationship. Make sure youth understand what consent is and the importance of it.

• Handy Tips: Encourage youth to practice consent at every level of their relationship. Safe Secure Kids defines consent, “Consent means giving someone a choice about touch or actions and respecting their answer” (Safe Secure Kids, 2020). It’s always best to ask than assume.

Boundaries – Setting boundaries are important to maintaining a healthy balance in a relationship. It’s important for youth to set boundaries in both friendships and romantic relationships.

• Handy Tips: A relationship should not dominate every aspect of your life. Make sure there is a balance of school, family, friends, etc.

Respect – Teach youth to respect themselves and to respect others. Youth respect themselves by being true to themselves and respect others by obeying boundaries and consent.

• Handy Tips: Practice self-respect by recognizing red flags in a relationship and checking in with yourself

Honesty and Trust – A relationship cannot be healthy without honesty and trust. Both people in a relationship should be transparent with