I recently read a short story on my phone about a couple. It was a short romance novel and I couldn’t sleep at night, so I downloaded it for free on my phone. Usually I find some good stories, but this one struck me as a terrible example for relationships. Warning bells and whistles were…
Baking a New Friend
This activity was based off of my Friendship Pizza activity, but with it’s own twist. I wrote a recipe card on our white board before our group one night and put a bunch of characteristics around it. I included mostly positive qualities, but I also threw in some negative ones just to talk about them…
My Least Favorite Relationship Question
I’m sure you’ve heard this question before. You might have heard it in the beginning of a relationship or after dating for awhile. It might be something you’ve heard from your co-workers, family members, and friends. The question is: “Is he the one?” I have heard this while in each of my relationships and it…
How Does a Bully Hurt?
One of the ways to talk about abuse in a kid friendly way is to discuss bullying. Kids can identify what a bully is and apply it to adults sometimes easier than trying to discuss abuse. I did this quick activity with my kids group one day. I found an outline of a human and…
Positive Wall
Over the summer, I had the opportunity to work with a summer camp filled of middle school students. We did a lot of different team building activities and one of my favorites was the wall of positive thoughts we created from sticky notes. The kids had a blast writing down positive, (mostly) appropriate comments and…
Breaking Down Gender Roles
I did this activity with my group a few weeks ago and it sparked some very interesting conversations. To prepare this activity, I cut out a bunch of pictures of different things that people generally think about in relation to boys and girls. I also drew three sections on our whiteboard, labeling one boys, one…
Through Their Eyes
As promised, we want to share some stories that have been shared with us. It’s taken us awhile to compile all the different stories, but what better way to kick off the New Year than to start with some stories of why we’re passionate about our cause. All stories have been edited and will remain…
Wishes for the Holidays
We at LAW are taking a few weeks off from posting our regular posts in order to spend time with our families. We wish you and your family a safe, warm holiday season. Don’t hesitate to call for help during this time, as domestic violence agencies around the country have advocates waiting to talk to…
Friendship Pizza
This is one of my favorite activities. I came up with the idea by combining a couple different ideas that I found online. I’ve used this with kids from Kindergarten-2nd grade, and even a few different ages in my support group. Teachers really like this activity because it encourages positive friendships, not focusing on bullying…
Romance Novels: Leading by Example?
I love to read. It’s part of my self-care and I love the whirlwind romance novels. I started reading them when I was in high school, mostly because I had read most of the junior section and I started reading my mom’s books. I love the instant connections, the passion, the instant fitting in with…
Thankful Tree
When you’re living in a home where there is domestic violence, it is hard to look on the bright side. Sometimes, it seems downright impossible. Children often pick up on these emotions and it can shape how they look at the world. In my kids group, I try to vary what we talk about each…
How to Teach Your Kids about Financial Abuse
I recently did an activity with the kids in my support group regarding financial abuse. I had never really covered financial abuse before, which made it difficult to cover. This activity took me about 20 minutes to set up, once I had my ideas listed out. To set up, I made two sections of our…
Got Hope Blog 