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Parents of teenagers are always concerned about how their children choose their friends – and for good reasons. Teenagers are easily influenced by their peers. In fact, a research which studied a teenager’s brain reaction when facing a risky situation found that teens who would normally not take risks when alone are far more likely to take risks when their friends are watching.

This explains why teens often give in to peer pressure. Unfortunately, parents do not have full control over their children when they go to school. At one point in their high school life, teenagers will cross paths with negative peer pressure. Negative peer pressure often influences teenagers to cut classes, smoke, drink or bully other teenagers.

Among these behaviors, bullying is the most common. In the Philippines, a survey conducted by the Department of Education in 2014 showed that one in two Filipino children has witnessed violence or abuse in their schools.

Needless to say, bullying has become a parent’s nightmare. One way to avoid its spread in schools is to prevent your child from being a bully himself. Even though you cannot be with your child in school, you can still influence their behaviour through parental involvement. Studies show that students with parents who are involved in their school life tend to have fewer behavioral problems. Parents who share ideas and talk with their child about problems in school, and those who meet most of their child’s friends are less likely to have children who bully.

Another important factor to consider is the school that a child goes to. Researches examining characteristics of adolescents involved in bullying found that teenagers who bully others tend to demonstrate higher levels of dislike of school. This means that students who do not like their school are more likely to involve themselves in bullying activities.

This is why choosing the school for your child is an important part of parenting. More so, choosing your child’s college can make a significant impact on his or her life. Although there are less occurrence of bullying in the college level, college students are still only in a transitional phase between adolescence and adulthood. This leaves them at a vulnerable stage and their like or dislike of their school can set the tone of their college life and eventually, their career.

Once your child has chosen his or her dream school, the next challenge for a parent is to actually get him in that school. But that is not always easy. The top colleges and universities in the country have very strict admission requirements. The good news is there are several academic centers that provide tutorial and review programs for students who wish to enter the best schools in the country.

AHEAD Tutorial and Review Center is the leading and most awarded tutorial and review center in the Philippines. It is the first and only review center to offer a Premium College Entrance Test Review that guarantees to get your child in his/her dream school, or your money back.

Being in college is a challenging phase in your child’s life, but it doesn’t have to be. You can make it easier.