Why it is Important to Choose Your Friends and Loves Carefully

Choosing your friends and love is generally something that is a result of where you live and how you were raised. choosing healthy relationships is tough without the tools to know how. Very few people listen to their family when they are kids. This leads the school to becoming an important source of influence. So just in case you parents haven't considered this concept, read on to see what you as parents need to think about regarding your children's friends and love relationships and parenting today.

Your children's friends and loves as they enter the teen years are a very important influence in their lives. If they hang around the wrong people they can end up with a life that has problems. Guilt by association is not a fun thing to go through. You really have to do everything that you can to keep your children away from choosing the wrong friends and love relationships. While you can not control them and end up with a healthy child, you can guide them to a good place where they have the appropriate tools to choose a great group of friends and somebody to love.

While everyone may not be able to afford the best neighborhood in which to raise a family, you can help create a great support team that can offer your child a healthy and constructive environment in which they can live. If you have a neighborhood community center that offers an after-school program, you can enroll your child in that. There they can experience a community where an educated and morally strong role model can develop. There they can also make great friends that can lead to a very emotionally strong sense of worth. This is very important to any family that is experiencing some form of stress or lack of emotional support. Parenting is a real job that has lasting consequences. Make your contribution count.

As your child grows up and develops their group of friends, make sure that you are aware of who they are friends with and how they behave in places where you as a parent are not present. While you want to offer your child adequate options to become empowered and make good choices for themselves; you really have to ensure that they aren't hanging around the wrong crowd. While some parents may not think that this is important, consider the statistics on problem teens and crime:

* SafeYouth.org sites that an estimated 1,500 plus murders where committed by teens in 2000.
* Approximately 1 in 3 teens have been victims of violent crime over the past year.
* Gangs are a major issue in most places today. Living in a rural town is no longer an escape.
* Peer pressure can lure your child into serious trouble if parents fail to supervise their children.

All of this can lead to friendships that are based on things that are not healthy to your child. They might develop a sense of worth based on these anti-social groups that are criminally based. Your child is an innocent and can be easily lured into this social group if they are not taught to be careful about choosing their friends and loves. You do not want your child to either choose that group or become a victim of these group types. The only way you can teach your child to watch out for red flags that are not healthy in friendships and love relationship, is to teach them what is healthy. Most people need to see this rather than simply being told. The best thing that you can do for your child is to lead by example. If you are a good role model then your child can develop into a strong and confident adult. Failure can lead them into a place where they get mixed up with the wrong crowd. This can lead to all sorts of problems legally and emotionally for your children as they grow into adulthood. Everything from bullies to outright extortion and manipulation can alter their lives forever.

Even if your child appears strong and confident, they can choose the wrong friends and love relationships. Many religious groups and even more liberal upbringings can lead a child to offer friendship to the wrong crowd. While the term "the wrong crowd" is frowned on today, you have to realize that there is a "wrong crowd" of people that can lead your child into trouble. If you don't believe that just take a look at what international crime organizations are doing today to recruit youth into criminal activity. If your child wants to appear friendly with everyone in order to "do the right thing" and not be prejudice, they can end up in the wrong place at the wrong time and get into trouble by association. Good parenting is more important than you might think. Just because your child's friends look alright, doesn't mean a thing. Check the friends and loves out before allowing your child to socialize with them.

Parents really need to think about these things regarding their child's ability to make sound decisions. If you add to that the fact that many children may come from a home in which a father or mother have been less than desirable to the child - this rate compounds. Everything from poor self-image to poor decision-making can happen with your child as they choose their friends and love relationships. They can become "pleaser's" or victims of strong manipulative types very quickly. The next thing you know, your child is in the wrong place at the wrong time. They end up ruining their lives. Teach your child to be aware of red flags in behavior when choosing their friends and love relationships. Every child needs a parents' guidance in order to make good choices as adults regarding friends and love relationships. Parenting is your part. Lead them and they will make good choices.

So make sure that you are present in your child's life. Ask questions and remember that you are not their friend. You are the parent. You have a responsibility to raise your children to be healthy and socially aware. That is the only way you can adequately prepare your child for an adult life that keeps them safe and loved by another healthy person. Make sure that your family either has a healthy example for your child or they have a community role model that is important to them. These things can help your child grow up and lead a great life free of people that can cause them problems. Simply telling them what to do won't get the job done. Help your child develop healthy relationships in their future so they don't end up in trouble from bad relationship choices.