Why Give in to Peer Pressure

You all have different reasons for giving in to peer pressure. Most of you spend as much time with your peers as you do with your parents, siblings or relatives. Some of your peers may be your close friends as well. This is what makes it doubly difficult not to give in to their demands and suggestions.

Peers can become like family. Because you deeply care about your peers as you would care about your siblings and family, they can really put pressure on you to comply with their wishes.

Thus, peer pressure is very hard to resist for even the most disciplined. Even when you know that something is wrong and harmful, you may end up going along with it if you aren't careful to say 'no' and mean it.

Here are some reasons why you may give in to peer pressure.

1. You want to be liked. Most of you want to be accepted by others, and by agreeing to go along with your peers, you feel that they will like you more. This is not always true though.

2. You want to look cool. If you are doing something that really scares you or that you are afraid of, you may be harming yourself and suppressing your values. And this isn't very cool at all.

3. You don't want to let your peers down. Many times, your peers will have different ideas about what they want you to do with them on a daily basis. So, if you decide to assert yourself, this won't necessarily let them down but let them know that you have opinions on different issues as well.

4. You don't want anyone to be mad at you. Sometimes asserting yourself can make other kids less mad at you. If your peers really care about what you think, they shouldn't get mad at you if you disagree with them. Instead, they should accept your opinions even if they don't agree with them.

5. You don't want to be made fun of. True friends and peers don't make fun of you if you don't agree to go along with them. They simply let you do what you think is right for you.

6. You don't want to be left out. If your peers care about you, they won't make you feel left out if you don't go along with something they're doing. They will simply let you make your own decisions about what you will agree to do and will not agree with.

7. You're afraid of losing a friend. Genuine friends and peers don't pester you or threaten your friendship if you don't agree with something that they are about they do. Instead, they want to know what you think about what they are about to do.

So the next time your friends and peers want to do something that you aren't comfortable with, don't give in and assert yourself. Your friends may respect you more and you will definitely respect yourself even more as well.