It is easier to prepare your child to handle peer pressure when they are still in Elementary School, then to wait until the Middle or High School Years. I found a wonderful article by Judy Larson with her tips on how to Prepare for Peer Pressure. Judy advocates following these four steps:
- Asking a question or questions
- Identifying the wrong
- Evaluating consequences
- Suggesting an alternative
Judy gives some real life examples in her article. Here is a real life example from one of my children’s lifes so you can see how the process works.
My middle daughter was pressured by her friend, Jane, to not include another friend, Amy, in their recess play. My daughter asked Jane, “Why don’t you want to include her?” (Step 1) Jane answered, “I just don’t want to.” My daughter knew this was not nice (Step 2) and thought that if she did not include Amy both she and Amy would feel sad (Step 3). Instead, my daughter said to Jane, “Amy is so much fun and she knows a new clapping game she could teach us.” (Step 4) Jane decided that it would be fun to include Amy and the girls played together throughout the school year.
Take time to sit down with your children and make up peer pressure situations. Let them go through each step of the process. This will prepare them to think about peer pressure situations when they arise.
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