We all worry about our kids. We all worry about them for a lot of reasons, especially as they continue to grow up. We worry about their first sexual encounter, their first drink, cigarette and whether they’ll dabble in drugs. And chances are they’ll do all of that, and we just need to learn to deal with it and respond in the most effective way for our child. But when it comes to those things, it can largely come down to peer pressure too, which can have a serious impact on our child’s lives.
Not to cut to the extremes too rapidly, peer pressure can really throw young people’s lives off track, being pushed into crime, drugs and addiction, and before you’ve realised that your son or daughter is being pushed into such a life, they’re already reliant on cannabis and you’re having to find ways of putting them through weed withdrawal and straightening their lives out.
Often when we find our child with drugs or alcohol, there’s a tendency to go in all guns blazing, not quite understanding the role peer pressure has played. So, how do you identify that your child is perhaps suffering from peer pressure?
Behavioural Changes
You’ll start to notice how your child acts around different groups of friends and with yourself. A real sign of peer pressure is how a child changes how they act around different groups of people, usually changing from their smiley happy selves to having a bit of an attitude in a bit to act up and be part of such a group.
This is usually a warning sign they are looking to fit in and are being encouraged to behave a certain way by a group of people.
Speaking about being a misfit
Has your child ever spoken to you about not fitting in or that they feel different to the other kids at school? This can be a big warning sign that they may be susceptible to peer pressure as no child wants to feel isolated in their school. By not being part of a crowd, they’ll likely start to adapt to mold into one, and that can bring problems as they’ll be easily led as they look to fit in. Often this is the case and how many unlikely teens begin to have problems with drugs and alcohol.
They’ll start to think about their image more
If your child is starting to think more about how they look or changing their image then it could also be a red flag. While this isn’t always the case, if you are suddenly starting to be asked to buy particularly trendy items or they want to purchase things you wouldn’t necessarily approve of, then there will almost certainly be connections with pressure from school, and indeed social media, with that having a huge impact on teens’ lives today.