Peer pressure is more difficult than you think, and where it takes teens can be scary.
Problems
Peer Pressure
It's underestimated
The pressures teens face today is far underestimated and overlooked. It is more than just the typical elements you, as parents, may remember from your teen years. Times have changed drastically.
Teens don't just face pressures created from their peers. They face pressures and stresses from many obstacles in society. With so many pressures involved, a teen can easily slip into low self-esteem and areas of bad decisions. Because when things are going bad, anything can look good—this means drugs, violence, bullying, and thoughts of suicide.
The direction of where a teen can go from the weight of peer pressure is unpredictable and scary. If a teen can't balance these pressures and stay strong within themself, they will hit a breaking point and do something that could ruin their life and others.
So, you have the common pressures
- Drugs and alcohol
- Sex
- To look “hot”
- To be the life of the party and well liked
- To fit in with the crowd
There is the pressure to do things
- To perform well in academics and sports
- To be in with the times of technology and material things
- To skip class and do something “fun”
- To find friends
- To show that you have wealth
- To go to a strong university after high school
- To excell immediately after high school into a career
- To do well on the MEAP, SAT, ACT tests
- To find scholarships
- To have a girlfriend or boyfriend
- To cheat on tests and assignments
- To have a cool car in the parking lot
- To have a job you are proud of
- To get that drivers license early
There are pressures that come right at you
- Being involved in a rumor
- Being bullied
- Being a victim of a fight
- Observing the successes of others and not your own
- Getting mocked for standing your ground and doing good
- Varsity sport initiations
- Competition between peers and siblings
Is that all of them?
Oh no. That really is just the beginning.
From experience, I know that teens face so much more pressure than you realize. It is not just caused by peers. Everyone is to blame. The question is: are we pushing our kids too hard? If not, then are we showing our teens how to handle these pressures appropriately?
These pressures can be reduced; if not, eliminated. I think teenagers would appreciate a little less stress, don't you?
