Learn about gang activity in your area. Talk to your children about the negative things that gangs do, and how they can affect your child, their friends, your neighbourhood, and your family.
- Point out violent messages on television and in movies. Talk to your children about ways they can solve their problems without fighting or violence, and demonstrate the strategies in your own life.
- Get to know your child's friends and their parents. When children
start to feel pressure to use drugs or join gangs, it usually comes from
their
friends.
- Start educating your children at an early age. While five-year-olds
may not understand about the effects of joining a gang, they can learn
to say "no" to negative behavior.
-Adapted from the National Alliance of Gang Investigators Associations
