Peer pressure is the term used to describe the effect that a group of friends can put on an individual.

 

For teenagers, it often feels more important to please friends than parents as it helps them fit in with a particular group. For example, they may want to wear certain types of clothes or hairstyles because their friends do. Even if you don’t agree with their choice of clothes or hair, don’t fight it.  It’s important for your child to feel accepted as part of a group.

 

Giving in to peer pressure doesn’t mean that they won’t keep hold of the values that you have taught them. It just means that they will discover new alternative values to that of their family.

 

Times may have changed, but you were a teenager once. Take a step back and remember what you were like as a teenager. Have the values that you’re parents taught you shaped you as an adult – even if you did have purple hair, that didn’t make you a bad person did it?

 

If you have given your child lots of support and encouragement at home they will grow to be a strong and independent teenager and may not be swayed by pressure of any kind. Close relationships with siblings and parents also help make them strong, independent individuals.