Thursday 15 July 2021

TEACHING YOUR CHILD TO RESIST PEER PRESSURE

 Making friends and being a part of a friendship circle is the first step to letting your child learn about the world, and even later on with closer relationships. But there can also be the risk of peer pressure into things that can be frowned upon or even illegal.


 


From this independent school in West Sussex, we go through some ways to show your child how to resist the pressure.



Get to know your child’s friends

Know who they hang around with and what potential red flags could worry you. This doesn’t mean you should dismiss anyone your child hangs around with, rather understand why they are friends and what potential influences could impact your child if they’re not too careful.


Model good relationships in front of your child

Show them how you interact with others and promote good influences in their lives. Your child’s more likely to follow your lead when they speak to their friends if they see positive relationships in your life as well.


Speak calmly to them about pressure in school

Remind them of what they should and shouldn’t do, something they’ll be learning as they explore moral values in their lives. Give them the chance to talk to you about how they’re feeling and see if your advice can give them reassurance to get through difficult situations at school. 

A calm conversation will more likely give your child more to think about than shouting at them if they fall for peer pressure.


Explain worse case scenario consequences to your child, calmly

When they’re teenagers your children can fall into doing things that can make teachers and parents angry alike. Talk to them about how these things can make them be in serious trouble if they’re caught, like being given detention, extra homework, or even worse - possibly being arrested or grounded for several weeks. 

Keep in touch with your child often and you can preempt any issues and react based on their own experiences.

 

5 comments:

  1. These are great tips. Peer pressure can be awful and kids can feel pressured into doing so many things that they don't want to do because of it.

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  2. Peer pressure is horrible, and something as a parent we hope never happens to our children. It is so important for them to know they can say no

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  3. These are great tips. It is important to show them good relationships. Children will often copy what they see. If they are exposed to loads of positive relationships they will hopefully develop their own too x

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  4. Peer pressure is awful isn't it? I think most of us experience it in some form at sometime and having skills in place to help resist it is great.

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  5. I feel being calm is a big takeaway from this! Thank you so much for the tips.

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