Blog Post 2: Parents vs Peer Pressure

When you are trying to raise a child the right way, you can never escape to per pressure as soon as he walks out the door. From the style of clothing, the kind of music and the attitude to a popular culture saying it’s cool to drink and do drugs, parents must be on hundred and one concerned, they have the right to be concerned. And parents must know and understand how to deal with the behaviors their children have under peer pressure.

In this post, I will share the ways on how parents help their teens in handling or overcoming peer pressure. These tips are of course based on my research and readings. Here’s the first article. “5 Ways to Help Your Teen Deal with Peer Pressure” written by Kendra Smiley. In her article, peer pressure is defined as Peer pressure is nothing new but a recent article in the Wall Street Journal suggested it is something teenagers need in order “to become adults.” Ms. Smiley listed some ways on how to help parents deal with Peer Pressure. She said that parents should understand that any relationships has peer pressure and in these relationships there are emotions involved.

The take-away, Kendra said “Parents, love your teenager enough to establish boundaries and consequences. Don’t hover. Help them anticipate potential negative pressure and develop a plan to handle it. The teenagers who have developed independent thinking skills are the peers who exert positive peer pressure, encouraging others to do what is right.”

I agree with Miss Kendra, parents must know and understand that any organization has peer pressure on it accept that from the beginning it has had the potential to be either negative or positive. I believe that it is the parents’ job or responsibility to help their child develop the ability to respond to peer pressure to think first in every situation. And one thing parents must understand is that they should discipline their child lovingly, do not be so strict to your children because children who were raised by strict disciplinarian has the ability to lie since they cannot show their real self. Of course, give your children some freedom, especially the freedom to make their own decisions.

On the other hand, James Lehman also wrote an article entitled “Parenting Teens: Parental Authority vs. Peer Pressure” He said that teens are usually doing the things that their parents re telling them not to do. Teens are actually doing the things their parents don't like. They don’t do this to irritateyou, he’s doing it because his friends are doing it and teems think that these things are cool. So they do it.

In his article, he was asked how much control does he has over the things to which his child is exposed. He answered, "I think it’s important to understand that you have no control over what your children are exposed to when they leave for the day. And unfortunately, it’s the same world you and I are exposed to, even though kids don’t have the mental capacity or maturity level that we have to deal with it. It’s a risky proposition, and I understand that."


Based on my own experience, James was correct. I agree with him when he said that parents should never underestimate the power of peer pressure. Teens are more likely to listen to their friends then their parents. Only few teens consider the advice of their parents when it comes to their looks, taste in music, how they dress, etc. Of course they want the feeling of being accepted by their friends so they wanted to please them more than their parents. As a parent, I think that the only control you have is through the beliefs, values and morals you can teach to your children.