teens-peer-pressure

How To Teach Your Children To Deal With Peer Pressure

Children deal with peer pressures right from kindergarten. When they meet different kids, they have to deal with various attitudes and situations right from a young age. Peer pressure also includes dealing with siblings and other children of their age. From an early stage of development, it is important to check your kid’s emotional and mental development and ensure they adopt the right attitude and mindset in dealing with tough situations like bullying, peer pressure, and other situations.

Make Them Watch Less Television

This is classic and age-old advice, but when children spend more time in front of the television instead of constructive activities, they lose a lot on developing themselves in a way to handle peer pressures and connect with people meaningfully. The content on television is not necessarily meaningful and can be a bad influence on children. It might not teach them better values and might make them impulsive and difficult to deal with. Sit with your children and plan activities that help them bond with you and learn how to deal with relations.

Don’t Tell Them Who To Be Friends With

Do not get into power struggles with your kids, it will only drive them away from you. If you do not like their friends, just keep a watch on them and be their best friends without passing judgments on their friends. Encourage better habits and activities so they understand the choice of people they are accepting in their life is right or wrong for them. Let your kids know that they will be loved even if they make wrong choices so they get an assurance that you as parents will bail them out of any situation and provide them with advice and guidance as and when needed.

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Make Your Children Understand Acceptable Behaviours

When your children are out and about in school and college, they are bound to deal with comparisons, identity crisis, and bullying. While these situations are inevitable, you must pump up their confidence and boost their self-esteem by letting them know what acceptable and unacceptable behaviour is. When your kids learn which behaviours are acceptable and where to draw the line they develop a wise insight in dealing with peer pressures and all kinds of problems at school and college.

Check The Music And Movies They Watch

Keep a watch on the choices your children are making and rectify them if needed. If they are listening to violent music, watching gory movies, because their friends think it is cool, find a way to approach them and put a leash on it. It is not useful for them and can only damage their psyche. Their friends could also pressurize them to drink and resort to substance abuse. You need to watch their behaviour and learn to address these issues no matter how challenging they are and help them make better choices in life. You can help them understand the importance of balancing life with fun and hard work. Throw insights about what an ‘idea of fun’ is more appropriate so they do not choose the wrong company and get into serious, life-threatening situations.

On Popularity

In school or college, kids want to be popular and could adopt the wrong behaviours and attitude to get that little fame and popularity. Teach them how going with the flow and being one amongst the popular band of people is not the most valuable thing in life. Help them develop their own individuality, recognize their strengths and weaknesses, so they do not fall prey to feign idea of popularity and carve their own path towards popularity and success.

Show Your Imperfections To Your Children

When your children see your imperfections and you do not make a big deal of it, you are letting them know that you are a human and you too can make mistakes. It makes them comfortable to confide in you anything under the sun and open communication of faith and trust. You are letting them know by showing your imperfections that they can rely on you for anything and never be reprimanded for being imperfect and having flaws. Do not let them feel ashamed about their flaws and they will beam with confidence even if their friends and peers call out on their shortcomings.

Spend Time On The Internet Together

Laugh and enjoy with them. Watch the shows they watch and have a good opinion and insights about them. Do not follow a hierarchy and judge them for the shows they watch. Advise them and let them take the time to understand what is right for them. Do not, at any point, force your opinions on them even if you do not approve of what they choose to watch. As a parent, you have to understand that children are exploring different identities and attitudes to form an individuality that makes them popular and acceptable. It might not coincide with your reasoning, but you need to understand their minds and emotions and work along to keep their confidence and morale high in all the situations they deal with.

Talk To Them About Taboo Topics

You must be able to talk to your children about anything without hesitation. Let them understand what is good for them and clear all the confusion in their head about a lot of sticky situations and things they deal with in their growing years. This will lessen their embarrassment and help them understand what they are doing is right or wrong. This way you are opening up communication with them and letting yourself in their inner world, which is the best way to bond with them and guide them.

Final Word

Be the best friend of your children right from the early stages of their lives and nurture them with love and guidance instead of self-righteousness and judgement. This will help them deal with peer pressure and give assurance that they can fall back on you for emotional support and well-being anytime they need a patient ear to listen to their woes. You are the best people they can approach to know how to deal with peer pressures.

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