How can I help my child to form good friendships and to resist harmful peer pressure?
Friendships can affect many areas of young adolescents’ lives grades, how they spend their time, what clubs they join and how they behave in public places, such as a shopping mall. Youngsters who have trouble forming friendships are more likely to have poor self-esteem, do poorly in school, drop out, get involved in delinquent behavior and suffer from a range of psychological problems as adults. Children of all ages need to feel that they fit in that they belong. As children approach the teen years, the need to be “one of the gang” is stronger than at any other age. Friendships become closer and more important and play a key part in allowing young adolescents to sort out who they are and where they’re headed. They are likely to form small groups or cliques, each with a special identity (for example, jocks, brains, preppies or geeks). Many parents worry that their children’s friends will become so influential in their lives that their own roles will diminish. Parents worry still more th
