How to Combat Peer Pressure

By eHow Parenting Editor

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Having friends means enduring peer pressure. It's part of the way society works. We control behavior by pressuring people who want to deviate from the norms. This can be good when someone wants to harm others or commit a crime. But you should know how to combat peer pressure so that others cannot control you.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Step1

Choose your friends wisely. There's a big difference between someone who pressures you into wasting your money on stuff you don't need and someone who draws you into drugs and alcohol. Kids who use that kind of peer pressure will make you feel rotten in other ways, so it's best to avoid them.

Step2

Find someone in your group of friends who objects to drugs, alcohol, crime and cigarettes. An ally can really help when push comes to shove. Make sure you respect them, though, so the strategy doesn't backfire.

Step3

Support someone who's undergoing peer pressure. When cocaine is being passed around a party and kids are giving someone a hard time, pull them away from the crowd.

Step4

Emphasize that doing drugs, drinking alcohol and smoking are illegal. Ask your friends if they want to go to jail, get suspended from school or get in trouble with their parents. Tell them the punishment isn't worth the crime.

Step5

Learn the gruesome truth about the health effects of drugs, alcohol and smoking. They kill your brain cells. These chemicals ruin your skin, teeth and hair and make you look and feel gross.

Step6

Take a broken record approach. No matter what anyone says, repeat "I don't do that stuff." You don't need to justify your decision.

Step7

Read horror stories on the Internet and share them with whoever's trying to pressure you. Some peers can only appreciate in-your-face messages like stories about destroyed lives. Email and text-message URLs so they can see for themselves.

Tips & Warnings

Use positive peer pressure on a friend who's going bad.
Don't be drawn into the anger and rebellion of a friend. It's an effective way of manipulating you into doing what he wants.