Teenage Behaviour – Age 15-18

What is peer pressure?

In simple terms, peer pressure is the process by which members of the same social group influence other members to do things that they may be resistant to, or might not otherwise choose to do.  A teen may want to do things, just so that they are accepted in a group and be valued by the friends. This is a fairly common phenomenon seen in teenagers.

Peer influence or pressure can be both positive as well as negative. Positive influence is when your child may enrol in a new activity/sport whereas negative peer influence is when your child starts smoking/drinking/vaping or taking drugs, to be a part of a popular group.

What can peer influence/pressure look like?

• Choosing the same clothes, hairstyle or jewellery as their friends
• Listening to the same music or watching the same TV shows as their friends
• Changing the way they talk or the words they use
• Doing risky things  or breaking rules
• Working harder at school or not working as hard

Handy Tips on helping your teen tackle peer pressure:

Build a strong relationship– once your child has a strong relationship with you, it will help your teenager feel loved, accepted and safe.

Keep the communication lines open- this would help your child to feel safe in coming and speaking to you at any point of time, how ever uncomfortable they are.

Encourage their friends to come home-encourage your child’s friends to come home. Not only will you know what kind of company your children are keeping, but navigating them would also be easier.

Be non-judgemental– its a very difficult thing but that is the only way forward to gain trust of your teenager.

Give a way out– if your teenager feels stuck in a situation, the only way out is to help them find a way out. Do some hand holding and give a resolution.

Building confidence in your teen– encourage your child to try new activities or things that are safe. This encouragement coming from you as a parent would give the child the confidence that they may lack

All this is only possible, if your child trusts you, has the confidence that he/she can talk to you about anything, without the fear of being judged and taken to task. all this begins at a very early age.

For conducting any workshops or having personal psychotherapy/ counselling sessions in both offline as well as online mode, mail @sekhondeepinder@yahoo.in