How to Help Your Son Deal with Peer Pressure

Everybody has to deal with peer pressure at many times in their lives. Peer pressure for your children can also be very hard and can lead to a lot of trouble. Peer pressure is the social pressure on somebody to adopt a type of behavior, dress or attitude in order to be accepted into that social group. Your children are always in the path of some type of peer pressure as they are growing up and teenagers seem to have the hardest time with peer pressure. As a parent you will want to know how to help your son deal with peer pressure no matter what age.

One way to help your son deal with peer pressure is to encourage your child to make friends with families who have the same values your family does. Create ways for him to find these types of friends by making friends yourself, joining church or neighborhood groups and being involved in your community. When your son has friends from a particular peer group it will be harder for him to be influenced by other peer groups that you may not want your son to be a part of.

Another way to help your son to deal with peer pressure is to pick the arguments you may have with our son. If your son is begging you to have the latest jeans or crazy haircut you may want to indulge him those little things. Some of these arguments are not that big of a deal and can actually be harmless. Having your son’s hair in a Mohawk is not as harmful as finding alcohol or drugs in his room. Giving your son the little things can actually help him resist the bigger pressures from their peers.

Letting your son know about some of your younger experiences no matter how embarrassing can also help them to resist peer pressure. Your son may come to see that not everyone has to do what their peer group wants them to do. You should also try to remember how it feels to not be part of the group and discuss this with your son. Sharing these experiences can give your son things to think about when peer pressure is at its worst.

You can also help your son deal with peer pressure by knowing the parents of his friends. This will give you many opportunities to establish the same type of rules and standards for both of your sons. When your son and his friends have the same type of rules, than peer pressure will be harder to fall prey to. The group of friends your son hangs around with will all have the same types of rules and they will not come in contact with some of the more questionable peer groups. Your son and his friends will also have people to stand by them when they do not give in to the peer pressure.

Let your son know that he can always use his parents as an excuse as to why he can’t do a certain activity if he does not want to. This gives your son an easy out without having to feel uncertain or chicken for not going along with the rest of the peer group. Your son will not need to give into peer pressure when he knows better because he can then use you as the excuse.

Helping your son deal with peer pressure can be a lifelong ordeal. Teaching your son early the many ways in dealing with peer pressure will help him all his life. Peer pressure can be found no matter what age you are.