Friends Influence Who We Are

Friends Influence Who We Are

We can’t help it but the friends we have influence who we are. If the friends we have are good, then chances are you won’t do anything stupid like take drugs. This is difference of course if you hang out with people who do bad things because violence escalates and you will probably end up in jail.

This is the reason why parents should know who their son or daughter hang out. If the parent notices certain behavior of the friend that is not acceptable, talk to your child about it and tell them that it is wrong.

Such an approach is better than telling your child not to be friends with this person anymore because this will strengthen the bond between the two of them rather than creating a distance.

Aside from knowing who their friends are, it will also be a good idea to know who their parents are. This will make it easier for you to talk with them should you notice a problem and this should also be something that they have to work on as well.

You should use this time to ask them certain questions about what expectations they have for their child and whoever they hang out with so you will also be able to express your opinion. This will also give you time to figure out what activities your kids can do with theirs since this is different for each family.

But how do we do that? There are many ways and you should be imaginative. If you have the time, try volunteering in the school where your child is in or join one of the committees. This will allow you to watch your child without them knowing it and spend more time with them.

Another option is to invite your child’s friends to your house so you can formally meet them. Since you want to see how the friends behave outside the home, go out with them by watching a movie. Pick them up and drive them home so you can spend some time getting to know them.

Your child will not only meet people in school but in the neighborhood and lately online as well. If they have a social networking account, chances are they will meet other people and some of these individuals live in other states or other countries.

When you are faced with this dilemma, don’t panic because there are ways you can monitor who your child meets online. To do this, you have to set up an account in the same social network and then get added into their account.

If your child finds out that you impersonated someone else, this could be perceived as an invasion of their privacy. Should this happen, talk to them about it and explain why you did it.

In psychology, there is a saying where “tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are” and such a statement is very true when we are influenced by media and other people instead of our parents. This will inevitably happen as or children reach the adolescent stage and although we can’t do anything about it, we should be ready to talk to our children because you are the only person they can turn to if something bad happens.