What You Need To Know About Youth Gangs

Youth gangs have been growing in popularity. It gives them a sense of importance, power and belonging. More and more, young women are joining in a more active role than before. All major cities, and many smaller ones have seen an increase in gang participation in the last few years.

What as a parent can you do to help your child choose not to join?

There are several reasons kids join gangs and understanding why might help you encourage your child not to become involved. The “benefits” so to speak of gang membership:

• Attention
• Money
• Respect
• Protection
• Sense of belonging

All of these things can be attained in other places; the key is showing your teen that these things can come from family and involvement in positive activities (e.g. sports, church, clubs).

There are things you can do keep your kids safe, these include warning them not to:

• Associate with gang members or kids who want to be gang members
• Identify or communicate with gangs
• Hang out near or where gangs congregate
• Approach strangers in cars who appear to want information or directions
• Wear gang related clothing
• Attend any party or social event sponsored by gangs or their associates
• Use any kind of finger or sign language in a public place

Some ways of deterring your child from gang membership can be as easy as:

• Impressing the importance of school and good grades
• Spending quality time with your children
• Getting involved with your child’s school activities
• Establishing rules, setting limits, being consistent, firm and fair in punishment
• Encouraging good study habits
• Respecting your child’s feelings and attitudes and helping them develop self-esteem
• Watching them closely for negative influence

What if you THINK your child is already involved with a gang?

The following identifiers are for use as a guideline only. Please, exercise caution in assuming that your child is involved in gang activity. If one or more signs are present, communications with the child are crucial in helping you determine the level, if any, of the child's involvement.

• He is obsessed with one or two particular colours of clothing
• Shows a desire for one particular logo over and over
• Wears saggy pants (this in an of itself is NOT indicative of gang behaviour)
• Wears excessive jewelry with distinctive designs and may wear it only on the left or the right side of the body
• Is obsessed with gangster-influenced music, videos and movies to the point of imitation
• Withdraws from family with an accompanied change in demeanor
• Associates with undesirables and breaks parental rules consistently
• Develops an unusual desire for privacy and secrecy and may completely rearrange living quarters to create more privacy
• Uses hand signals while with friends and practices them at home

Or there is evidence or the appearance of:

• Physical injury (such as being beaten) and then the child lies about the events surrounding the injury(s)
• Peculiar drawings or language on school books (may appear later as tattoos or brands)
• Unexplained cash or goods, e.g. clothing, jewelry
• Possible use of alcohol and/or drugs with attitude change

The best way to find out if your child is involved in gang activity is to talk to them.

What if you KNOW your child is involved with a gang?

Contact local authorities. They will best be able to assist you, as every case is different.