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Bad influence?

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Springhope

Bad influence?

I don't know what to do about my 15 year old. She hasn't really been happy since going to high school and reading between the lines she has quite a low self esteem and is dying to fit in. She's become friends with a girl at school who takes cigarettes to school and I'm worried that my daughter is smoking too. My daughter's behaviour has escalated with her sneaking out, getting drunk and now there's trxt messages about getting marijuana. While my daughter is rebelling big time I feel that if I could keep her away from this girl we would have a chance. The problem is that this girl is nice to my daughter and makes her feel wanted. What can I do to protect my daughter?

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Hannah-RO

Re: Bad influence?

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Hey @Springhope (Lovely username by the way!)

Its beautiful to read you want to protect your daughter, but I understand that this friendship is very important to her. It can so tricky finding that balance when you think a friend might not be the best influence. We've got some info and resources for parents on peer pressure that could be worth having a look at here.

We also have this resource which is specifically about talking to teens about alcohol use, do you feel comfortable talking to her about these concerns? Or have you discussed drugs and alcohol with her before?

These conversations can be really difficult but can allow you to express your concerns with so she knows where you're coming from with your worries.

I'm also wondering if there could be any other avenues for your daughters sense of belonging, like a sports team or art class or something like that where she could meet other like minded young people. Does she have any interests/hobbies that could lead to meeting others?

Hope some of this is helpful, feel free to keep us updated with how you're going Smiley Happy

 

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txdad05

Re: Bad influence?

I went through this with my youngest son. I ended up having to have him talk to a dr not a psychologist to help him figure out why he is like this come to find out it was a chemical imbalance when he hit his age