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.

1. 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!)

2. 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!
3. 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.

4. 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 Ways to Love to Your Son/Daughter

You love your son and daughter–but that doesn’t mean you always know the most effective ways to show that love, ways that will connect with their hearts, and stick with them no matter what life throws their way.

These practical books by the authors of 100 Ways to Love Your Wife and 100 Ways to Love Your Husband give you 100 specific, actionable ideas you can implement to show love to your children, no matter what age they are.

The best part? The short, bite-sized readings make it easy to start right now!