Teaching Your Kids to Resist Peer Pressure

Being “cool” affects everyone, whether you are five or twenty-five, however, it seems like when you are in your younger years, the pressure to follow the crowd can be more appealing. Your child’s favorite TV show, character, and even favorite color can change almost daily as their friends at school give them new ideas. While peer pressure can seem harmless, if you don’t give your kids proper tools to combat it while they are young, they can end up succumbing to it on serious issues like trying drugs or alcohol (studies show that 55% of teens begin using cocaine due to peer pressure). No matter what age your children are, you need to begin teaching them skills to combat peer-pressure today. Read below for tips to help you teach your kids how to say no.



Talk to Them

While this tip may seem obvious, the best thing that you can do to prepare your children to combat peer pressure is to talk to them. Find out what is going on in their lives, what is popular at school, the kinds of things they are interested in, etc. Have age appropriate conversations about what hardships they may be experiencing at school and with their friends. Bring up drugs and alcohol in your regular conversations, and let your kids know that you would like them to avoid those things. Studies show that children are less likely to engage in risky behaviors such doing drugs or drinking alcohol if their parents talk to them about it. Ask them about their experience with drugs, whether they are exposed to it in the media, if they have friends that talk about or do drugs, etc. Make sure that the conversation is a conversation between the two of you and not a lecture. Really listen to the things that your kids have to say.