This week, a new announcement made headlines:
Schools in England will be required to teach healthy relationships as part of a wider effort to tackle misogyny and harmful attitudes among young people.
On the surface, it sounds positive. Necessary, even.
But for many parents — especially those raising neurodivergent children — the announcement raises an important question:
Will this actually change what children experience day to day?
Why This Matters Right Now
Concerns about misogyny, online radicalisation, coercive behaviour and unhealthy relationship dynamics are no longer limited to adults. Many parents are seeing worrying attitudes and behaviours emerge earlier and earlier — often shaped by social media, gaming spaces, peer culture, and a lack of safe conversations.
This has even been reflected in popular culture, with recent storylines in EastEnders exploring coercive control, manipulation, and how harmful beliefs can take root in young people.
So yes — schools talking about healthy relationships is important.
But how it’s delivered — and who it truly reaches — matters far more than the headline.
What Will Schools Be Teaching?
According to the announcement, lessons will focus on things like:
- respect and consent
- recognising unhealthy or controlling behaviour
- online influences and misogyny
- boundaries in friendships and relationships
Teachers will receive additional training to help spot early warning signs and challenge harmful narratives.
In theory, this is a step forward.
But many parents are already asking:
What about the children who struggle with social understanding, emotional regulation, or interpreting relationships in the first place?
Where SEND Families Feel Left Out
For families of autistic, ADHD or otherwise neurodivergent children, this conversation isn’t new — it’s overdue.
Many SEND children:
- struggle to interpret social cues
- take things literally
- are more vulnerable to manipulation or coercion
- have difficulty with boundaries (their own and others’)
- mask at school but unravel emotionally at home
Yet parents often report that schools:
- minimise concerns
- say children are “fine in school”
- focus on academic progress rather than emotional safety
- lack tailored approaches for neurodivergent learners
A one-size-fits-all lesson on relationships may not reach the children who need it most unless it’s adapted, inclusive, and trauma-informed.
Teaching Isn’t the Same as Understanding
There’s also a deeper issue here.
Children don’t learn about relationships just through lessons — they learn through:
- how adults respond to distress
- how conflict is handled in school
- how bullying is addressed (or ignored)
- whether children feel safe to speak up
If a child is punished for emotional overwhelm, ignored when they disclose concerns, or blamed for behaviour rooted in unmet needs, then a weekly lesson on “respect” won’t undo that.
Healthy relationships aren’t taught only through content.
They’re taught through culture.
What Parents Are Already Seeing
Many parents tell us they’re seeing:
- controlling or misogynistic language picked up online
- confusion around consent and boundaries
- extreme reactions to rejection or disagreement
- emotional volatility linked to social stress
- children struggling to understand healthy vs unhealthy dynamics
And often, parents feel they’re raising these concerns alone — with schools slow to act unless behaviour becomes extreme.
So Will This Make a Difference?
It could — if it’s done properly.
That means:
- adapting lessons for neurodivergent children
- focusing on emotional literacy, not just rules
- involving parents as partners, not problems
- recognising early distress, not just visible misconduct
- addressing online influence honestly
Without that, there’s a real risk this becomes another well-intentioned policy that looks good on paper but misses the children most at risk.
We Want to Hear From You
This is where parents’ voices matter.
💬 How has your child learned about relationships, boundaries or respect at school?
💬 Have you seen worrying behaviour — or positive change — in your child or their peers?
💬 Do you think schools are equipped to teach this in a way that truly helps all children?
Your lived experience tells a story headlines never can.
Final Thought
Teaching healthy relationships is important.
But understanding children — especially neurodivergent ones — is essential.
If we want real change, we need more than lessons.
We need listening, inclusion, and support that meets children where they are.
Because healthy relationships start with feeling safe, seen, and understood.
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