By Lim Kay Kiat What roles do parents and friends play in the life of teenagers?

Friends are often shape how a teenager grows up to be. Research conducted recently by a well-known institute has shown that teenagers who mix with friends who are more hardworking tend to achieve better grades. Furthermore, teens who mix with friends who are gangsters often pick up smoking themselves, get involved in fights and join gangs. This is because during this age teens are trying to find an identity for themselves. Teenagers often seek their close friends for support and help. Sometimes these friends might give the inappropriate form of support the teenager needs. For example when a teenager is feeling down or stressed, his friend might encouraging him to smoke or drink alcohol so as to get “high” or to drown his sorrows. This in turn might get teenager hooked onto alcohol or smoking which might become a habit which carries on to the teenager’s adult life. A teenager’s friends are like the molds which form the teenager.

One role of parents in the life of teenagers is that of providing a moral compass. (Topic sentence) Teenagers are most easily influenced during their teen years; mostly by their peers. Thus, it is very important that parents teach their teenage children the right values and lead them on the right path as parents are the ones who spend the most time with their teenagers. For example, recently the news has reported that illegal money loaners have exploit the naivety of teens and employed them to distribute flyers to promote their illegal money lending businesses. Besides, it is the duty as parents to impart the right values the child needs to learn so that they can grow up to be useful citizens and contribute positively to the society. Thus a role of a parent is to be the moral compass of teenagers.