London, UK (PRWEB) June 09, 2014 -- Peer Pressure is defined as an influence exerted by a group or an individual to encourage others to change their attitudes, values, or behaviors to conform the group norms. This can have both positive and negative consequences depending on the type of peers influencing the children. NoBullying releases today the ultimate guide to dealing with Peer Pressure.
The need to fit in and feel accepted, as well as the need to find their own path of self-expression, contributes to how much of an effect peer pressure has for a particular child. Children with a high self-esteem, who are secure in their relationships with the adults in their lives, who are confident in who they are and what they want are more likely to develop strong peer relationships with peers who have a more focused outlook.
The guide lists the two main levels of peer pressure that every parent should understand. The first one being Large Group Peer Pressure such as school mates, gangs, sports teams and study groups, to name a few. This level of peer pressure can influence a child’s clothing style, music preference and choice of entertainment venues. To make parents understand this type of peer pressure more, it is more along the lines of “everyone else is doing it”, this is an argument often used by children when their choices are challenged by parents.
The second level of peer pressure is Small Group Peer Pressure which is harder to control and overcome. This level of peer pressure is one exert by close friends. Close friends make it impossible to pretend to be going with the flow when in a small group or one on one. The opinions and acceptance of those who are closest to a young person is of greater importance to them. Often a person is willing to sacrifice a great deal for the approval of their friends.
The guide goes on to focus on what parents can do if they have an adolescent who has a toxic friendship that presents a lot of negative peer pressure. The tips include not forbidding the relationship or taking a strong stance against the teen’s friends. Parents should positively reinforce their children’s sense of uniqueness and constantly talk to them about not changing their personalities just to fit in.
Macartan Mulligan, Co-Founder of NoBullying.com, said “This guide on peer pressure is related to bullying in every possible way. Children are bullied because they refuse conforming to peer pressure and find it hard to fit in.”
He added that parents and teachers should make a point to educate the younger generations about the sad outcome of bullying online and offline. According to Mulligan, it is quite imperative to press for more firm laws condemning all acts of bullying and harassment.
NoBullying.com features many pages dedicated to parents, teens, teachers, health professionals as well as posts related to cyber safety and the latest news about law making concerning curbing Bullying worldwide as well as inspirational Bullying Poems and famous Bullying Quotes.
The website regularly updates its bullying statistics and cyber bullying statistics as it is essential to understand how widespread the bullying epidemic is. It also regularly runs cyber bullying surveys and questionnaires to get recent updated statistics on everything related to cyberbullying.
He also added that anyone suffering from bullying in any form or way can always find advice and help on the NoBullying website – but if anyone is suffering from severe bullying or cyber bullying, the best thing is to talk to someone locally – a parent, teacher or local organization that has been set up to help with specialized councilors to deal with this topic.
Ciaran Connolly, Treze Ltd, http://www.treze.co.uk, 0044-289-581-0610, [email protected]
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