Children, especially during adolescence, begin to spend a lot more time with their friends, and less time with their family. This makes them more susceptible to the influences of their peers. It is important to remember that players' friends can have a positive influence on your child. You should therefore help them find friends that have similar interests and views as those you are trying to develop in your young athlete, including doing well in school, having respect for others, Being coachable, working hard at practice, and avoiding drug use and drinking.
During adolescence, children practice risk taking behaviors as they are trying to find their own identity and become more independent. This makes them very vulnerable to experimenting or becoming addicted to using drugs and drinking, especially if there is peer pressure to do so. Players who use drugs are also more likely to practice unprotected sex at an earlier age, have low self esteem, behavior problems, school performance problems, and depression. Some athletes may even have babies at an early age!
It is very important to communicate with your child to help minimize their being susceptible to negative influences and prevent them from picking up bad habits. Teenagers whose parents talk to them regularly are at much less risk for experimenting with cigarettes, drinking and drugs. Teach them how to avoid situations where drug use, drinking, or smoking are present and to minimize negative influences by choosing friends who also choose not to use these substances. You have a lot more positive influence over your child's choices, even when you are not physically around, then you think.
Other ways to minimize the influences of negative peer influences is to help him to have high self esteem, confidence, a sense of self worth, and to feel needed and loved by their friends and family.
A lot of the peer pressure that your young athlete will be exposed to and be influenced by relates to external things, such as clothing and hair styles, taste in music, etc. It is not always important to insist that your child conform to your own ways of thinking, especially when it relates to these less important issues. If your child is doing well in school, are not using drugs, drinking, or smoking and you are not having serious behavior problems, being coachable, and having fun in sports and doing well, then it may be worthwhile to ignore some of these less important issues as your son tries to find his own identity. Creating power struggles over these issues are unlikely to change their attitudes and will likely create more problems.
There are other negative influences on your children, including the Interent, television, movies, video games, books, etc. You should monitor very closely what your adolescents are exposed to, to minimize the negative influences these things may have on them.
You should talk with your child if you think he is being negatively influenced by his peers to drink, smoke or experiment with drug use. Or you can set up an appointment with a medical professional with experience in dealing with adolescents with this problem. This professional can be your Pediatrician, a psychologist, counselor or someone else that your child can build a relationship with to talk about his problems.
IMPORTANT PARENTAL INFO:
For athletes, it can seem very important to \"fit in.\" Players are very concerned about their images, and they are worried about what others think about them. As a result, peer pressure is very influential in many kids' lives. Peer pressure is basically the influence that people, their age, have on them. For teenagers, it is the influence that other teens have on their behavior,
dress, attitude and practices. Often, kids do what others are doing so that they can fit in - or at least not stand out. Players like to do what their friends are doing, and be accepted. This peer pressure, though, can lead to undesirable behaviors.
Statistics on peer pressure
There are some startling statistics about peer pressure, and what teenagers feel pressured to do. Here are some statistics about peer pressure: The Adolescent Substance Abuse Knowledge Base reports that right around 30% of teens are offered drugs in middle school and high school.
According to the National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 74.3% of high school students have tried alcohol.
3.1 million teenagers smoke, according to the American Lung Association. The Kaiser Foundation reports that about 50% of
teenagers feel pressured with regard to sex in relationships.
You can see that the pressure is on to engage in behaviors that may not be healthy, physically or emotionally, for your son. It is vitally important that you help your son develop the self Confidence to withstand peer pressure, and make his own decisions.
How to combat peer pressure
There is always going to be a certain amount of bowing to peer pressure. Teens naturally want to project the \"right\" image. However, you can reduce the influence that peer pressure has on your young teenager by making the following moves:
1- Open lines of communication: Kids
are afraid to come to those who are
judgmental or who will subject them to
ridicule.
2- Have clear expectations: Start when your
child is young to have clear
expectations on their behavior.
3- Know their friends.
4- Be involved: Show your child that you care.
5- Talk about the issues.
6- Pick your battles: Understand that some
things are less important than others.
In the end, you need to encourage your son to choose good friends who will be supportive of them. And you need to help your child withstand peer pressure by providing a safe support system.