How to Protect Your Child From Gang Involvement

Protect your child from gang membership, which often includes selling drugs.

There are a number of reasons someone joins a gang. In inner city neighborhoods with limited educational and job opportunities, some young men and women join gangs in order to earn a living selling drugs and doing other criminal activities. In other instances, membership in a gang replaces the sense of belonging that teenagers who come from single-parent households may lack. As a parent, it's never too early to take the steps necessary to help protect your child from becoming involved with a gang.

Instructions

1. Make a list of the names, phone numbers and addresses of each of your child's friends. Include the names of their parents. Call each parent to set up a time to meet them and their children so you know the kind of people with whom your child is associating.

2. Make a weekly schedule that informs you where your child is at all times. If your child is at an activity that you cannot attend, arrange for another adult or older sibling to accompany him, or tell your child to call you so you know he is where he is supposed to be.

3. Enroll your child in after-school programs and activities that occupy her time and minimize her chances of hanging out with the wrong crowd. Examples of these kinds of activities include sports, art programs and school clubs, such as a debate team, student council or chess club.

4. Take your child to a favorite restaurant or hangout and discuss the dangers of gang involvement with him. Tell your child to inform you if he's being harassed or pressured by gang members, and assure him that he won't get in trouble for being honest about being approached to join a gang.

5. Set a curfew for your child and establish rules about behavior that you strictly enforce. Setting limits on your child will help create discipline and demonstrate the acceptable levels of behavior in your household. If your child feels there are no limits to how she can act, she will not think gang behavior is wrong.

6. Meet with your child's teachers at least once a month to monitor his behavior and to hear if they have any concerns about him. Ask how you can become involved in school activities, such as becoming a team manager for a school sport in which your child is involved, or joining the PTA. Seeing that you're active in his school activities will help your child understand that you value his education and may help motivate him to stay committed to school.

Tips & Warnings

• Look for signs that your child may be associating with a gang. Some of these signs are change of clothing and hairstyle, change in behavior with more frequent incidents of disciplinary actions required at home and in school, physical changes such as lack of concentration, reddened eyes and loss of weight that could indicate drug and alcohol use, and sudden appearance of money or jewelry that aren't gifts from you or anyone in your family.

• Buy your child a mobile phone so you can monitor her whereabouts, especially if she's out with her friends on a weekend.

• Prevent your child from wearing clothes that are associated with a specific gang in your local community.

• Confront your child as soon as you see signs that may point to gang involvement. Call your local police department and ask for the gang prevention division to get help.

References

• The Community Solution to Gang Violence: Help Prevent Gang Involvement
• Broward Sheriff's Office: Recognizing Gang Activity in Your Child's Behavior
• Commonwealth's Attorney County of Halifax, Virginia: Gang Information
• Egg Harbor Township Police Department: Gang Reduction Unit

Resources

• National School Safety and Security Services: Gangs and School Safety