Avoid peer pressure with the right steps

Peer Pressure is a real and dangerous thing today. Most people fall victim to peer pressure at some point in their life. The goal for this is to help people see why peer pressure is so dangerous and how to avoid falling into its trap.

Cohen Eichorn from Peet says this about avoiding peer pressure: “Have the mentality that you’re always right so you won’t listen to other people, but don’t be a know it all.” 

Kai Smith, a freshman at Peet, said, “If you have good friends they will usually be respectful. Sometimes other peers that you have might pressure you into doing things you’re not comfortable with and you might do it to try to fit in and be cool and ‘in’ with the popular kids or even just to try to make someone happy. This can be dangerous because while at first falling into peer pressure might not be a big deal, this can become a habit and lead to you falling into more and more dangerous peer pressure situations such as drinking and drugs. This isn’t always the case but it can happen.”

Peer Pressure is a dangerous thing but the AACAP (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry) has some tips to help teens avoid peer pressure. 

The first tip is “Stay away from peers who pressure you to do things that seem wrong or dangerous.” If you know that the people who pressure you will be at a certain place, try to avoid that place for now. 

The second tip is to “Spend time with other kids who resist peer pressure. It helps to have at least one friend who is also willing to say ‘no.’” When you have positive influences around you, it can really help people turn the other way when faced with peer pressure. 

Finally, “If you have problems with peer pressure, talk to a grown up you trust, like a parent, teacher or school counselor.” Adults at school or at home want to help you and don’t want to see you fall into a pattern of being pressured into doing things you don’t want to do. Talk to them and make a plan to overcome peer pressure. 

Peer pressure is a dangerous thing so I hope that anyone reading this who is struggling with peer pressure is able to overcome it.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.