Investigator Jeff Brown

My almost 16-year-old daughter started her first job this week. Although she is a mere two years away from adulthood, she is still my responsibility to protect and to keep safe. I know nothing about these kids and adults she will be introduced to and working with on a day to day basis.

I am personally thankful I have RADAR and will be alerted if she makes any new friends at her job and exchanges phone numbers with them. If any of these kids or adults call my daughter or text messages her, I will know about it within seconds. I will be able to monitor her new friendships, and hopefully be able to judge whether or not they are okay for my daughter to be communicating with outside of her job.

Peer pressure is a large concern for all of us parents. No matter how open and honest we are with our children, we worry if they will really do the right thing if they are pressured to try drugs, or to drink alcohol, etc. Even “good” kids succumb to peer pressure if they are not prepared to deal with it and are not given the proper tools to handle themselves in certain situations.

One thing parents can do to help their children deal with peer-pressure is to discuss this topic with them ahead of time and let them know they can use you, the parent, as an “out.” Tell your kids they can always use you as an excuse why they cannot do something which makes them uncomfortable or they know is wrong. Tell them to flat out say, “My mom/dad would kill me if I did that.” Something this simple can give children the confidence they need to stay out of trouble and to say “No!”