Risky Business TEEN PEER PRESSURE

Peer pressure is something teens deal with all the time. Teens are influenced by peer pressure. Not only do teens high-school lifestyles change, but also their home (family) lifestyles change. Some parents experience their child living an ordinary life of laughter, smile, and going to the mall with their friends, then one day everything changes to hell for both the child and the parent. The cause of that may be because the teen must have done something he/she did not want to do, but were persuaded by their "friends" in doing it; like ditching school, smoking, drinking, ect. Sometimes it is the parent who pushes their child much more into peer pressure rather than their peers. At times, parents don't really have a good feel on what their child is up to on daily basis. They can pay closer attention to their child's outside circle of friends and steer them toward more low-risk male and female peers. If the parents do not have a trusted communication with their child because they could be a single parent and they work 24/7;just don't really mind wondering about their child because they know he/she would never get into serious trouble, it would be much harder to understand them. It also leads to lack of patients and trust in the relationship which causes the child to loose affection for their parent. No communication, no trustful relationship, is no parental guidance. Teens fear discovery by their parents and other authorities. They also experience frustration because they sometimes cannot control themselves and their surroundings. Teens have a clear idea in their head that, "everyone else is doing it" which influences them and to blackout of their common sense and better judgement. Parents should know that peer pressure is something that children and other parents including themselves, experience one time or another. Parents should always encourage their child to develop a friendship with other teens with positive qualities.