Many parents are concerned with who their kids are hanging out with, often unaware that their own children are the ones who are the bad influence. It’s important to incorporate certain values in the home to ensure that your children are a positive influence on their friends. Children who set good examples to others often learn how to be that way from their parents. Here are some ways you can help your kids be a good influence, which will keep them from making bad decisions that can affect them long-term:

Establish Communication

Spend time with your child both inside and outside of the home, and establish communication to form a strong relationship that will carry into their social life. Children who have a closer relationship with their family succeed outside of the home by having more self-confidence and respect for both themselves and others.

Teach the Dangers of Drugs and Alcohol

Children are often exposed to or offered drugs or alcohol as early as middle school, making it important to communicate the dangers at an early age. Discuss the consequences and how drugs or alcohol can often lead to jail time, addictions, and even poverty. It’s important that your children know how to deal with friends and peers struggle with addictions to drugs or alcohol as well. It’s nearly impossible to avoid someone at school who uses these substances, so teaching them how to help others and deal with it is essential. Click here to obtain more resources on educating your children about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, and how your children can help friends who are struggling with these substances.

 Monitor Entertainment

The media is often the first place that children hear curse words, view mature scenes, and are overly exposed to adult content. Block certain channels on the television, while also monitoring their Internet use on a consistent basis.  It’s also important to know what your children are doing on their social media accounts, if they have any. Although you can’t control everything they see and do on the internet, setting filters to block obscene material is crucial. The more they are exposed to questionable content, the more normal it becomes for them. Children who are positive influences on their friends aren’t exposed to many of the things teenagers are seeing and talking about at school. They typically don’t want to associate with those things.

Practice Discipline

Discipline is often difficult to establish in the home for parents who may have been raised in a strict environment and want to provide their children with freedom. However, the most rebellious children are often those who were never raised with rules, making it important to establish guidelines in and out of the home. By learning to respect authority inside of the home, they’ll be able to practice it in school.

Teach Respect

Children commonly model what they see their parents doing, which makes it important to watch your own behavior with your own friends. Avoid gossiping or slandering other people in the home, and show your child what it means to be a friend by serving those you’re around. If your children learn to respect their peers, they will get respect from them in return.

Serve in the Community

By establishing a routine of helping others or volunteering in the community as a family, it will naturally teach your children gratitude and the importance of living a selfless life. They’ll be able to help those in need, which will change their perspective on their role in school and amongst their friends in a positive way.

Knowing that your children are setting good examples for their friends can make raising your children much easier. Follow these steps, and you will give your children the tools they need to make good decisions and choose good friends.