Getting Real With Shadra Bruce
Encourage Your Kids to Be Individuals
If you want your kids to be able to overcome peer pressure, empower them to be comfortable in their own skin. Kids are better able to resist peer pressure when they feel good about themselves.
Be Involved in Your Kids’ Lives
One of the best ways to make sure your kids aren’t falling victim to peer pressure and doing things they wouldn’t otherwise choose to do is to stay involved in their lives. By being involved and supportive, you can give them the power to say no.
Love Your Kids Without Judgment
Embrace the unique individuals your kids are becoming and celebrate those differences. When you love your kids without judgement, you free them to be who they want to be, and that gives them the power to be leaders instead of followers.
Raise Your Kids with High Self-Esteem
Helping your kids feel good about themselves does not mean handing them everything on a silver platter. It means teaching them to work for and earn their rewards, to suffer the consequences of their choices, and to be responsible for their actions. It also means loving them for who they are – without turning them into mini-mes who parrot your thoughts and opinions.
Teach Cause and Effect
If you raise your children to understand that they are in control of their own lives and that each choice they make has a consequence, they will learn to associate their own choices and free will with the outcomes they want to have.
You cannot teach your child to avoid peer pressure, but you can empower them to be strong enough to not only say no but to be a positive force among their peers.
