Gang Awareness

I wanted to write this post for some time but since the gang climate is always changing its hard to identify certain aspects of gangs. We all know there is gang activity in the local areas and in most cases gangs are not segregated to the urban areas. There is a growing concern of gang activity all over America and the gang focus outside of the prison system is our children. They will target them early in the school system. The conversation about gangs with your children must occur often and early.

You want as a parent to look for early identifiers of gang influence in your home and on your child.

So we all know we must be aware of the colors however since the gangs know law enforcement is always on the lookout for colors the use of colors is reduced.  So you have to see the little things such as bandanas, beads, belts, hats jeweler etc. the little things. Some symbols and numbers the larger gangs use a five or six pointed star or crowns, the three dots triangle and numbers etc. The social media is something you should monitor when you can here is where you will be able to see what types of friends your child has and what music or movies are influence them. If you see a change in behavior such as a withdrawing from family activities or staying out late without a reason an unusual desire for secrecy.  A sudden negative attitude about law enforcement or a negative change in viewpoint about school or church A disconnect from long time friendships.   There are much more but this is some of the warning signs there might be something you want to look into.

So how can you help and prevent your child from being influenced by any gang. It is important to communicate early what your feelings are about gangs. You should always make an effort to get to know your children’s friends and their parents. Always check and be familiar with internet activity a good way to do this is keeping all devices in a common area this way you can monitor the online activity at any time. Provide guidance on peer pressure for your children and set limits and firm consequences for any misbehavior.  Always plan family time together this is important.

I hope this is helpful as always please leave a comment

Mark Carbajal