4 Ways To Help Your Child Handle Peer Pressure
Peer pressure is a term that typically refers to the pressure that teens, tweens and kid’s face. However, feeling pressured by our peers is a concept that in one way or another, we as parents and adults, can relate to as well. Think about it:
Should we discipline like them? Should I work like him? Should I dress like her?
…we’ve all been there.
My prayer is that as our kids mature, their confidence in Christ and the decision-making skills we are installing now, will live beyond grade school and provide the foundation needed to handle the peer influence that will continue to follow them and grow in consequence; for good or bad.
A list of tips for our children to use is a great tool to get them thinking and I am thrilled to provide one here, but what they’ll value even more than that is to come home to a parent that understands, sympathizes and gives her the extra push she needs to make healthy decisions.
Here are a few tips to help you as you help your children navigate through the pressure they may be facing with peers.
- Be available to listen and to talk to her often and about everything.
Help her to know that there is no conversation that she cannot have with you. And assure her that she has your attention when she needs it…phone down, tv off and little sisters in bed (at least that’s what it looks like in my house!)
- Know her friends. As our girls get older it may seem harder to stay up-to-date with friendships. However, it is so important that we do. Make it a point to get to know the people your daughter spends the majority of her time with. Invite friends over, offer to drive when there’s an outing, and engage with them!
- Role-play and practice reality based scenarios with her. This may seem silly and it is! Which is also why it can be a lot of fun. Role-playing opens the door wide open for conversation. It’s the perfect opportunity for you to learn what she already knows, areas that need correction and values that need reinforcement.
- Teach her to apply God’s Word.
Whether she comes to you upset, confused, excited or anxious…point her to Christ. Reinforce God’s Word and biblical principles in every situation. It’s sometimes hard for our young girls to make the connection between the memory verse from devotions and the real life situations on the playground, be on the lookout for opportunities to cross her life experience with biblical truth.
Whether these are new ideas or reminders, let’s pray and toil while we have the influence, so our girls grow in God’s grace and become a light that shines bright and bold in our world today and tomorrow.
Wynter, For Girls Like You
100 Words of Affirmation Your Son/Daughter Needs to Hear
Matt and Lisa Jacobson want you to discover the powerful ways you can build your children up in love with the beautiful words you choose to say every day–words that every son and daughter needs to hear.
These affirmation books offer you one hundred phrases to say to your son or daughter – along with short, personal stories and examples – that deeply encourage, affirm, and inspire.
So start speaking a kind and beautiful word into their lives daily and watch your children–and your relationship with them–transform before your eyes.
