Do you fear peer pressure?

I did, until I started to work with large groups of kids. And then? I saw a kindergarten teacher get a whole room quiet by saying “I like how Tyler is sitting quietly on the carpet waiting for our story.” I spoke to a teenage patient who, when I asked her if she smokes said, “Oh, none of my friends do – we all think it’s awful!” I observed a group of 7th graders speak up on behalf of someone who’d been bullied with the power of a group who has decided not to tolerate bad behavior.

Do you know The Five Moms? They are a group of community-minded women who joined together to create the site Stop Medicine Abuse in order to educate parents about this (and many other) topics central to raising teens. They asked me to give parents my perspective on peer pressure and how it can hurt AND help kids.

Don’t protect kids from peer pressure.

Talk to them about it. And if you’re worried about what your child is experiencing, help him see that the pressure is not necessarily the problem, but those particular peers might be.

What have you done when you feel your child is being influenced in the wrong direction?