Get Ready To Talk!
We all want our kids to be safe and avoid injury.
And young people want to feel safe, too. But many kids feel lots of pressure to fit in and follow their friends. Some peer pressure is very healthy. Peer pressure to get good grades or work out to make the soccer team is pressure to support. But friends can also pressure others to be reckless and unsafe. This is when injuries occur. And injury is the number one cause of death of young people. When our children become old enough to ride in friends' cars or drive the risks increase. The most common injuries and health problems young people experience are:
- Motor vehicle injury
- Alcohol related injury
- Drug overdose
- Suicide
- Violence
Parents play a key role is keeping homes, schools and neighborhoods safe and injury-free. And parents are also leaders when it comes to making sure that young people have the ability to say "no" to unsafe situations and risk-seeking relationships.
Goals of "The Talk"
The goal of this "talk" is to help parents and children:
- Define terms related to peer pressure
- Define terms related to injury
- Discuss the difference between safe and unsafe situations and environments
- Discuss how to respond when friends apply pressure
- Identify the health and safety problems associated with driving while drinking or distracted, biking without a helmet, or not following safety rules when playing sports
- Identify where to go for help if problems with peer pressure exists
- Discuss family rules, school rules and laws that related to keeping safe from injury
- Indentify community projects which support safe, youth-friendly environments
As you explore
As you explore this site, you and your child can learn in a variety of ways. This "talk" includes the following family activities:
- Let's Talk Activities
- Videos
- Safety Rules
- Questions & Answers
- 10 Tips
You may also access the Google map directory of services, guide to resources, glossary, calendar of events (to attend a Let's Talk parent workshop), or learn about local Community Projects your family can support.
Pressure to Take Risks and How to Stay Safe
What does your child know about peer pressure? If your child is like most, she or he has been feeling pressure to fit in with other students since starting school. The pressure to conform is intense. And the price children pay for not fitting in can be harassment, threats, isolation and depression.
Peer pressure can be painful. Sometimes to fit in a child will take risks. This may mean riding in a car with another teen driver who has been drinking. It might mean joining a gang that is violent toward members and outsiders. Injury and violence can grow because of social norms created by peers.
The Let's Talk activities will help you discuss with your child various forms of pressure. Some pressure can be positive, like pressure to finish homework and get good grades. But we know that peer pressure to drink alcohol, abuse drugs, and harass others is a reality that some students face as early as late elementary school and middle school. This lesson also helps you talk with your child about injury in the form of car crashes and alcohol-related injury. One very sobering statistic is that injury (in the form of car crashes, drug overdose, suicide and violence) is the number one cause of death among young people.
The "Let's Talk" Activities
Young people (and adults) can sometimes find themselves in a not-so-healthy relationship.
It can come as a surprise that a friend or dating partner is not respectful. It's best to think about healthy relationship before getting into one. Using the above Let's Talk activities can help young people think about ways to cope with unhealthy behaviors and unhealthy relationships of all types. The activities can be used in a way that is easy and fun-- leading to all kinds of interesting talks about relationships. Parent and child can work together on filling in the cartoon characters' thinking and speaking bubbles.
There are no right or wrong answers, just lots of opportunities to discuss the issues. It just takes a few minutes to chat about how the bubbles were filled in and to explore the issues of healthy relationships with your child. 
Videos
Let's Talk provides videos to spark conversations between family members about the "tough issues."
In the video, "Pressure" a family talks about various forms of peer pressure.
Questions & Answers
Kids and lots of adults have questions about keeping safe, healthy and successful in school. We have collected commonly asked questions and responses from around the nation.
How is peer pressure different today than it was when parents were in school?
There are the same types of pressure today as there were twenty years ago--peer pressure to drink alcohol, experiment with drugs, ride with someone who has been drinking, and to fit in. The difference is that kids report feeling these pressures much younger, as early as late elementary school and middle school...
Safety Rules!
Every family has values about how people should behave...
Parents might feel strongly that all people should be able to stand up to peer pressure and not follow the pack. This value can be a guide for people to follow.
10 Tips About Peer Pressure & Safety
Families are finding solutions to all types of problems.
We have created a list of ten ways to keep young people safe, healthy and successful at home, school and in the community. Read about "10 Tips About Peer Pressure and Safety" and share your tips, too.
'Here's What I Know' Quiz
Now that you have learned so much about peer pressure and safety, take a moment and try the 'Here's What I Know' quiz. It's only a few questions and a good chance to show what you know.
