smoking

davelerave

do any parents here have ideas on how to prevent their children taking up smoking.i'm a reformed smoker and parent and concerned about this .i don't like the fact that cigarettes are sold freely in shops and passed onto kids easily.

ashlynch

All you can do is make sure they know all the dangers associated with smoking and all teh health benefits associated with not. And hope that you have raised independent kids who won't secume to peer pressure. There is no way you can guarantee anything, just make sure they have all the info..

Nevyn

You have to let them choose but there is no reason from an early age if you are not a smoker yourself to inform them of why it is a nasty stinky costly bad habit and bad for thier health and that is would not be a wise choice.

There is also the bribe option of a certain ammount of money upon reaching a certain age if they don't smoke before then.

Nevyn

You have to let them choose but there is no reason from an early age if you are not a smoker yourself to inform them of why it is a nasty stinky costly bad habit and bad for thier health and that is would not be a wise choice.

There is also the bribe option of a certain ammount of money upon reaching a certain age if they don't smoke before then.

Peaadina

Im the youngest by a long shot in my family, and my entire family smoked when I was a kid, and I remember telling my eldest sister -14yrs older than me! that I would Never smoke, because I didnt want to cough up my guts every morning like all of them and she said, "oh yeah, thats What I said and Now i love smoking!"
I never started!
And they all had to give up!

I believe the biggest problem are the 'cool' people in school, they all smoked in my yr, and other kids looked on in awe and followed suit.
I knew my own mind, I saw my mother coughing her lungs up every morning and only having a ciggarette for breakfast. and I knew I didnt want that!

Give your kid(s) all your knowledge on the subject, but dont patronise! Their friends opinions will ultimately mean more -sadly!

Good luck!

simu

Give them information about cancer - diagrams, photos and so on (at around 9 or 10 or so). I was very influenced by such health leaflets when younger and have never smoked. This approach may not work on all kids, though and you don't want to make them too scared of illness either!

StupidLikeAFox

Allen Carr has a book out on the exact topic(How to stop your child from smoking), might be worth a look

sudzs

Yes, Allen Carr's book is definately worth a read. He's a genius!!! He stopped me smoking for good after one read of his book.

Get it today!!!

Hugh_C

simu wrote:

I did not heed the warnings... badness ensued

pop-up gross-out porn and such, folks

Ironic considering the content of your sig. Presumably parenting is a family show? I'd suggest your sig is not in the spirit of that...

Anneri

I'm a non smoker and despite this my daughter took up smoking at 13, i stopped pocket money as i refused to pay for her to smoke so she got them of friends, last year her granddad died of lung cancer and this finally stopped her, you can plead, bribe and put them on a guilt trip but if they wish to smoke they will.

sudzs

Allen Carr

simu

hughchal wrote:

Ironic considering the content of your sig. Presumably parenting is a family show? I'd suggest your sig is not in the spirit of that...

Political satire tbh. If you're all that offended, go running to the sig police. o_O

Ardent

Let your kid(s) know that there's no such thing as one cigarette - if they have one they will be smoking for the rest of their lives unless they get lucky down the line. Although I don't know if that would be enough to deter them.

davelerave

Anneri wrote:

I'm a non smoker and despite this my daughter took up smoking at 13, i stopped pocket money as i refused to pay for her to smoke so she got them of friends, last year her granddad died of lung cancer and this finally stopped her, you can plead, bribe and put them on a guilt trip but if they wish to smoke they will.

hi.i'm an ex smoker and had a similar experience in that my grandad came to our house to die (he had lung cancer )and he persisted in lightingup butts to the very end.i'm glad to see this new initiative where packs of ten are being phased out but it seems crazy that twenty odd years from when i first took up the habit the same situation prevails with young children taking up the habit

Borat_Sagdiyev

davelerave wrote:

do any parents here have ideas on how to prevent their children taking up smoking.i'm a reformed smoker and parent and concerned about this .i don't like the fact that cigarettes are sold freely in shops and passed onto kids easily.

I think you should have a chat with your offspring and just treat them as an adult. Don't be patronising in any way at any stage of the conversation.

Explain that you would like it if they didn't smoke. Don't take the route of banning them from ever trying smoking. They'll ask you how come it was alright for you to smoke, and if anything that'll be to your advantage. Explain that you used to smoke and that you were addicted, but you got out of it because it is terrible for your health - say that that was a difficult time for you and you would prefer if they did not have to go through that kind of hardship.

Tell him/her that you love him/her and that you only want the best for him/her. You don't want to see them have to go through that.

Be honest at all times, they'll respect you more for it. They'll see that you made a mistake taking up smoking and that you deeply regret it.

Cutie18Ireland

My two youngest sisters smoke... they are 13 and 9!! we have tried everything to get them to stop...but then they go and take the buts out of bins etc.. my mam has always smoked and my nanny died recently as a result of smoking but nothing is getting through to them the 9 yr old only seems to be doing it because the other one does.. myself and my 17 yr old sister have never smoked... i came home a few weeks ago to find my 9 yr old sis with a cigarette in her hand after lighting it off the gas cooker.. i went a bit mad and my mam said dont be fighting with her lol she doesnt think its that big a deal because she always has smoked.. thats what put me off..if anyone has any advice i'd greatly appreciate it...

Slutmonkey57b

My dad appealed to my arrogance and pointed out that only morons smoked, and he had been one of them. Since I was already of the opinion that the "cool" kids were genetically stunted it wasn't that much of a stretch to look down on them for smoking as well.

luckat

Teach them how to spot smokers (do this quietly if you don't want to be assaulted) by noting the lines around the mouth, etc.

Tell them how much it costs - that you could buy a car with a couple of years' worth of smoking that's just gone to poison you.

Point out that it's really stupid to feed money to the disgusting, conscienceless capitalists who run the tobacco industry.

Mention that the main reason the workplace smoking ban took off was that Irish people didn't want to exploit bar staff by exposing them to cancer, heart disease, etc.

Tell them that they'll be likely to live longer - and to be healthier as long as they live - if what they breathe in is oxygen.

Sing them that verse from Cigareets and Whiskey and Wild Wild Women that goes: "Cigareets are a curse to the whole human race, a man is a monkey with one in his face. It's my definition, believe me, dear brother - a fire on one end, a fool on the t'other."