Advising Parents About Protecting Children from Gang Involvement
Health care providers should advise parents to watch for signs of gang involvement and can encourage them to take the following steps:
- Supervise children's activities and know their friends. Parents should insist on meeting their children's friends and make every effort to get to know their parents. Children should be discouraged from hanging around with gang members. Parents should make sure they know how their children are spending their free time, checking up on them occasionally to make sure that they are doing what they say they are doing. Children should not be allowed to stay out late or to spend a lot of unsupervised time out in the streets.
- Get their children involved in supervised, positive group activities. These might include after-school programs or clubs, athletics, the arts, or volunteering with community groups. Parents should find activities that interest their child and that help their child to develop a sense of belonging.
- Develop good communication with their children. It is important for parents to develop good communication with their children so that if they have a problem, they will know they can come to them. Good communication is open and frequent, and it takes on a positive tone. Encourage parents to talk to their children and to take the time to listen to what their children are telling them. No topic should be off limits.
- Spend positive time with their children. Parents should plan activities that the whole family can enjoy, but also find a way to spend time alone with each child. They should regularly praise their children and encourage and support their children emotionally.
- Become involved in their children's education. Encourage parents to put a high value on education and to help their children to do their best in school. Parents should keep in close contact with their children's teachers and let their local schools know about any concerns they might have.
- Clearly and continually begin to express to their children at an early age their disapproval of gangs and gang-related activity. Parents should let their children know that they think gangs are dangerous and that the child's well-being is very important to them.
- Keep their children from attracting the attention of gangs. Parents should not buy or allow their children to dress in gang-style clothing. Children should be taught to walk away if gang members approach them and to avoid using gang gestures. Parents should not allow their children to write or practice writing gang names, symbols, or any other gang graffiti on their books, papers, clothes, bodies, walls or any other place.
- Learn about gang and drug activity in your community. Gangs take different forms in different communities, and the gangs in your community may look and act very differently than those you see on television or at the movies. Parents should learn how gang members in your community dress and speak, and find out about the kind of activities they are involved in. Encourage them to attend information meetings and read articles related to gang activity. They can contact their child's school to find out if gangs are active there.