Question

how to reduce any of the five youth risk behaviours of

Answer 1

Knowing that it’s normal doesn’t make teen risk-taking any easier to live with. Here are some ideas to limit risk-taking and keep your child safer:

• Work out some agreed ground rules with your child. Explain to her that you want to work out ways to keep her safe. Decide together on what the consequences should be if the rules are broken. You’ll need to be flexible and adapt the ground rules as your child grows and shows she is ready for more responsibility.

• Talk about values - the earlier the better. Knowing what’s important to your family will help your child develop a sense of responsibility and personal values.

• Keep an eye on your child. Knowing who he is with and where he is can help you prevent some risk-taking behaviour.

• Keep the lines of communication open. Try to stay connected to your child. Strong connections with parents reduce the chance of risky teen sexual behaviour.

• Be a good role model. Teens are guided by how their parents behave. If your child sees you applying double standards - from speeding to excessive drinking or aggressive behaviour – she might not respect your rules.

• Encourage a wide social network. You probably can’t stop your child from being friends with a particular person or group - but you can give him the chance to make other friends through sport, community or family activities. Make your child’s friends welcome in your home – you’ll know where he is at least some of the time.

• Give teens a way out. If your child feels pressured to take risks to fit in, you could help her think of ways to opt out without losing credibility. For example, she could tell her friends that smoking gives her asthma. Let her know she can send you a text message anytime she needs to be picked up, without worrying that you’ll be angry.