Peer pressure arises when you find yourself in a situation where your peers urge or influence you to engage in activities that go against your personal desires or values.
Here are five things you must know about Peer Pressure:
1. TYPES OF PEER PRESSURE
There is what we call negative peer pressure and there is positive peer pressure. Negative peer pressure is when you are being pressurised to do what you know is wrong. Positive peer pressure is the pressure you feel from friends who try to pull you towards doing what is right. This kind of peer pressure is good for you
2. NEGATIVE PEER PRESSURE IS MORE COMMON
It is interesting to know that the reason why several boys do what they do is not because they really want to, but because they don’t want their friends to mock them. Imagine a boy who gave another boy in the junior class a slap just because his mates said if he didn’t do so, he was a coward. Though he felt bad after the event, yet his mates hailed him as a hero.
3. YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO CHOOSE
You have a right to choose whether to follow your peers or not. When you are with your friends and they want to take a decision to do something; if you know that what they wanted to do is wrong, will you be bold enough to confront them or will you pretend to agree with them? You should be able to lift your shoulders high and refuse to do the wrong things that your peers want. However, my young friend, I must tell you that it is not easy to refuse negative peer pressure, but you can do it if you are determined to do it. You have to be strong to do it! Be strong therefore and do it.
4. YOU HAVE A BATTLE TO FIGHT
Choosing to say not to negative peer pressure does not come easy to anyone. It takes real courage to go against popular opinion. If you are unable to face your friends in such a situation, then you have a battle to fight against peer pressure. You are likely to be pushed around by your friends into doing bad things that you never really wanted to do. When your friends ask you to prove that you are a man by doing something irrational, beware; because there will be danger there!
5. ALWAYS THINK BEFORE YOU ACT
As a young boy, it is natural that you will want to gain the admiration of your peers, but don’t stoop low in character in order to get it by doing every foolish thing that they want you to do. Weigh the actions that you are planning to take; ask yourself, ‘for what purpose is it’? If the only reason why you will engage in an act is because you want your friends to hail you, don’t do it: it may be a plan from the devil to ensnare you.
6. PEER PRESSURE HAS A SECRET
Let me tell you a secret. When you are among a group of boys, you will notice that one or two of the boys will be the ring leader that tells the group what to do. I want you to know that apart from the ring leaders, several of the other boys will be afraid to talk even when they know that what the group is planning to do is wrong. In fact, several of them would go ahead to do that wrong thing even when they think it is a foolish thing to do. They would do it just because they are afraid to say “No”. Do not be like them.
If the ring leaders insist that the group should go ahead and do the wrong thing and you refuse to join them because you are very sure that the action is wrong, respect for you will increase and very soon, some other boys who believe in you will join you. In fact, God Himself will be happy with you, because by your action, you would have obeyed His instruction which says that
“Do not be moved to do wrong by the general opinion, or give the support of your words to a wrong decision”.
(Exodus 23:2 BBE)
7. YOU CAN START YOUR OWN BAND
A band is a small group of friends that you do worthwhile things together with. You can form a band and you can challenge one another to do good things together. Your band should have a focus. For example, you may be a team that composes good songs together, or a group that studies together; you can encourage one another to finish the syllabus in a short period and sit down to answer past questions. But, no matter what the focus of your band is, you should involve God; so you should fix a time to pray together regularly. There was such a team of young men in the bible named Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego; they were a band of brilliant young men who sought God together and refused to partake in the wickedness taking place all around them.
