Here is a simple strategy to help reinforce the behavior you want to see from your child on a daily basis that takes very little effort on your part as the parent.

First,think of all the things you do for your child on a daily basis. Things like making them meals, washing their clothes, giving them rides, helping them with their homework, etc.

Take all these behaviors as opportunities to reinforce the behavior you want to see with your child----- with a twist. It would look something like this: "Here are your clothes I folded. I wanted you to know how much I appreciate you getting along with your brother lately" . Or "I be happy to give you a ride to Susie's, you have been doing your chores every day."

Would you fold their clothes and give them a ride anyways? Sure. You are just putting a twist on the things you are doing normally for them and "super sizing"the event. No need to do this for everything you're doing for your child but take at least one opportunity a day.

The advantage to using this strategy is that it does not take much effort on your part and can produce big dividends in your interactions and behavior from your child.

Children, particularly teens, are affected tremendously by the peers they spend time with. In fact, the most direct influence on delinquent behavior in youth is a negative peer group. Parents need to be aware and concerned about the peers their child is spending time with.

So what can a parent do about this? After all they can' t supervise their kids 24/7.

Here are a few simple guidelines.

Make sure your kid is invovled in prosocial activities (i.e. sports, church youth groups, volunteer work, Boy/Girl Scouts, etc.) These activities put them in contact with high functioning peers.

Get to know their peers. You will get a better sense of your child and how they act around their peers. You may have to be creative with this, like having pizzas at your home or a movie night.

Get to know the parents of those peers. You will get a better sense if those parents  provide the level of monitoring you want for your child. Many kids will tell one thing to one set of parents and something else to the other set of parents. There is power in parents being connected to one another.

Monitor your kids activities. If your kid is telling you they are going over to Sally's house, make sure that happens. While kids' plans do change, keep your child honest by periodic "honesty" checks.

Keep a good relationship with your child. Kids are more likely to be honest about their peer group if they have a positive relationship with their parent.

Monitoring and supervising your child with their peers can be hard work, but the payoffs of that through preventing future problems is tremendous. Make sure you have your own supportive peer group to help you do this.

In an effort to provide useful information to parents and other professionals, FACTS will be  publishing a blog that focuses on current issues in parenting and family relationships. The goal is to be brief yet provide useful information based on the latest research that can help in the often times difficult job of raising and managing children.

Blogs will be written by FACTS staff and new ones added regularly. We welcome your feedback and look forward to the ongoing dialogue. Thanks for looking and stay tuned..........