Here are a few ways that how you, as a parent, can help your child deal with peer pressure: 1) Don’t Overreact 2) Invite Friends Over 3) Set Family Rules 4) Have a Heart-To-Heart Talk 5) Teach Them Effective Responses 6) Agree on a Bailout Phrase

1. SAGAR INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
HOW TO DEAL WITH PEER PRESSURE

2. Here are a few ways that how you, as a parent, can help your
child deal with peer pressure:
1) Don’t Overreact
2) Invite Friends Over
3) Set Family Rules
4) Have a Heart-To-Heart Talk
5) Teach Them Effective Responses
6) Agree on a Bailout Phrase

3. 1) Don’t Overreact
• When your child talks to you about school
and what his or her friends are doing, you
may hear some upsetting things. At such
times it is important not to yell, blame, or
lecture your child. Instead, stay calm and
don’t jump to conclusions. Try to get your
child to think about the consequences of
risky behavior by asking questions such as,
“I wonder if your friend realizes that she
could get arrested for underage drinking.”

4. 2) Invite Friends Over
Ask your child to call friends over for lunch, dinner or a
sleepover. Use the time getting to know his or her peers and
whether or not they’re a good influence on your child. If you
feel that they have a negative influence on your child, you
know you need to talk to your child about it soon. However, be
sure to choose the right time and the right words while doing
so. Be very sensitive about your child’s feelings towards his or
her friends.

5. 3) Set Family Rules
• Set certain family rules and imbibe them in
your child. Household rules such as “in this
family, we are all kind to each other” teaches
your child about kindness and how being
mean or rude is not appreciated by anybody.
So, the child will not succumb to peer
pressure about teasing a fellow classmate.
Other examples of setting family rules are –
“we don’t hurt each other”, “we always tell
the truth”, “we stand up for each other”, etc.

6. 4) Have a Heart-To-Heart Talk
Sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk with your child. Help your child
understand about what makes a true friend. For instance, someone who
makes you feel good about yourself, supports and encourages you to
make good choices and helps you in times of need is a good friend
whereas someone who deliberately tries to involve you in hurtful,
dangerous and illegal activities is not a good friend. Encourage your
child to evaluate his or her friends and consciously choose a friend circle
that doesn’t make him or her feel bad about anything.

7. •Say No – Tell your child ‘no’. When you clearly set limits and use sentences like
“No, I am not okay with that”, you are teaching your child the vocabulary and the
notion that even he or she can use such sentences with peers. You can also teach
your child to become more assertive by helping him or her practice saying ‘no’ and
thinking of some casual reasons to go along with it.
•Walk Away – Walking away from a situation is the only solution if your child finds
that his or her friends are determined to do something risky or mean. However, it is
important that your child learns how to walk away correctly. Shouting will only lead
to a fight between friends. Instead, teach your child to think creatively and say
things like “OK, I’m going home to play video games
CONT…

8. • Provide Another Option – Instead of blatantly
saying no to friends, your child can offer another
option instead, such as “Why don’t we go to the
cinema and watch xyz movie instead? I heard it’s
amazing!” or “I heard xyz restaurant serves the
best pizza around here. Wanna go check it out?”
• Use Humors – If your child is naturally witty and
humorous, suggest making jokes in high pressure
situations in order to deflect the conversation
without offending anyone. This will not only help
change the topic and prevent your child from
having to say no clearly, but will also help keep
conversations light-hearted.
CONT…

9. •Listen to The Gut – Tell your child to listen to his or her natural
instinct or gut feeling. Even if everyone else seems okay with what’s
going on, it means something about the situation is not right for your
child and that he or she needs to walk away from the situation
immediately.
•Use Confrontation – Encourage your child to have an honest and
direct conversation with the person or people who are trying to
pressurize him or her. It’s a good idea to rehearse exactly what your
child will be saying and to choose the right time and place to do so.
CONT…

10. 6) Agree on a Bailout Phrase
• Agree with your child on a bailout phrase to use incase the
situation becomes too difficult to come out of. One could
be your child calling you up and saying – “Hey mom, can
you pick me up? I have a terrible headache” another could
be- “Oh no! I completely forgot about that. I’m on my way.”
Peer pressure is not a phenomenon that only affects
children and teens. Even adults are subjected to it from
time to time and end up making poor life choices if they
were not able to resist it. That is why, it is necessary to
teach our children the right tactics to dealing with peer
pressure from a very early age so that they can grow up to
become mature, responsible and assertive adults.

11. •So, encourage your child to come and talk to you every time peer
pressure got the best of him or her and encourage your child to
also tell you whenever he or she made an active choice against
succumbing to peer pressure. Acknowledge and reward your child
for telling you the truth and also for making a healthy choice.

12. THANK YOU