How To Shield Your Child From Bad Influencers: A Guide

Childhood is a glorious time. It forms the foundation of a healthy adulthood and also the relationships that your child is going to form throughout their life. Childhood is also the most influential age. Children are way more susceptible to falling under the impact of both bad as well as good influences.
However, since they lack the knowledge and sense of sound judgement, it is up to the parents to assess what kind of an influence it is that the child is under. Will it be of benefit to them or end up harming them?

The Top Tips to Help You Shield Your Child from Bad Influencers

Here are a few tips for you to follow if and when you notice your child falling under any sort of bad influence:

1. Avoid the Negatives

This means avoid saying words like “don’t”, “no”, and “never”. These tend to repulse the kid into doing what is harmful for them. For example, if you see your kid hanging out with someone who constantly gets into trouble; avoid restricting or banning your kid from meeting them altogether. Instead, help them see why the influence of that friend in their life might be a bad one. Be supportive, and explain why you’re saying what you’re saying.

2. Set Limits

There comes a time in adolescence when children start to explore different things and expand their vocabularies too. Your child too, in the impact of a friend, may come to using language that cannot be permitted at all. However, scolding, shouting, or beating your kid will hardly help the case as this will make them more stubborn and allure them to doing what they know is being resented in the house. Instead, what you can do is talk it out with them, set some limits to state that it might be okay in their friend’s house to use such a language, but it isn’t something that will be permitted in your house.

3. Avoid Placing Blame

We all know that children have always been fascinated by sex. This is mostly because often they are kept forbidden from the necessary, age-appropriate knowledge. If you see your kid showing any such signs, don’t avoid or ignore them. Ask them, with curiosity, as to where they heard that story from, or what other details did the friend give.
Avoid placing blame on the other kid while explaining why it may be inappropriate for both of them to discuss such things. Also, make sure that you show concern for both the kids if you decide to take it to their parents. However, don’t forget to reveal important knowledge that is appropriate for your child to know to avoid any such curiosity in the future.
It requires patience, understanding, and assessment of the situation to deal with kids with ever-growing minds of their own. Don’t lose your composure and try to see through things in such a scenario. Above all, befriend your child so that he or she that there’s nothing they need to hide from their parents.