You will read the following imaginary scenario aloud to students.
Imagine that you were running a few minutes late to class today. After all, sometimes it can be really hard to get up in the morning! Now imagine you came into class, sat down, and found a blank piece of paper on the table in front of you.
You look around and notice that your neighbors have all written “I hate kittens” at the tops of their papers in big, bold letters. Now, you don’t hate kittens. The class is in the middle of a discussion, which doesn’t seem to be related to kittens. You don’t want to interrupt the teacher to ask what you should do with your piece of paper.
- How would you decide what to do with your piece of paper? (Answers will vary.)
Discuss with your students how they might have responded in that situation.
- Raise your hand if you think you would’ve written “I hate kittens” on your paper. Why? (Answers will vary; students may share that they didn’t want to be left out, or they may have assumed that writing on the paper was the right thing to do.)
- Raise your hand if you think that you would have left your paper blank. Why? (Answers will vary; students may answer that they don’t think kittens are gross, it didn’t seem to have anything to do with the lesson, they would want instructions from the teacher, they didn’t want to do the wrong thing, etc.)
This is an example of peer pressure. If you came late to class, you would’ve had to decide what to do. You wouldn’t be sure what everyone else had done with their papers or whether you should do the same.
Peer pressure is a feeling that someone (or a group) is pushing you to make a certain choice, good or bad. When you see people around you doing something, we often can find ourselves wanting to do the same thing—or feeling like we should be doing the same thing. We feel pressure to fit in with our peers. Sometimes peer pressure results in us doing the wrong thing, but peer pressure can be positive as well if what we are following is beneficial. Peer pressure can also result in us doing things that don’t really make sense, but we do them anyway because we want to fit in.
Isn’t it amazing how quickly we decide to join in with those around us? Sadly, there are plenty of situations in life when we see others doing things that aren’t right, and still we want to join in and follow the crowd.
Let’s watch an example of how peer pressure can lead to doing things that are dangerous or that we know are wrong.
Share the following video with your students [1:34]: Warning issued over risky TikTok ‘door-kick challenge’
The teens who were arrested or taken into custody probably knew it was not right to participate in this viral challenge. They learned the hard way that just because a lot of people are doing a TikTok challenge or trend doesn’t mean it’s safe or won’t have lasting consequences.
- How might you respond if your friends pressured you to try something that was potentially dangerous? (Answers will vary.)
In our Bible study today, the people of Israel are faced with the reality of peer pressure. They saw something that other nations around them had, and they wanted it too. Let’s find out what the people of Israel decided to do, and how peer pressure affected them.