When I was a kid, a few years after the surgeon general released the original report linking smoking to vast health risks, my Dad—a doctor!—still smoked a pipe and the occasional cigar. I remember him lighting a stogie during a long drive in the family VW. I remember throwing up. It was an effective counterattack. But it’s not practical in all circumstances.
The most recent news about secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure is good; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that “detectable serum cotinine” levels are down across the board in nonsmoking Americans. Serum cotinine is a marker in the blood that signals a nonsmoker’s exposure to secondhand smoke, and if levels go down, disease risk also probably declines with it. The CDC speculated that workplace and public-place smoking bans were the likely cause.
But there is a bug in the ointment: The population showing the smallest drop in cotinine levels is children, 4-11 years and 12-19 years. Why? Probably because, as the CDC pointed out: “The primary source of SHS exposure for children is the home; therefore, eliminating smoking in workplaces and public places is less likely to reduce children’s exposure to SHS.” Ironically, laws designed to protect nonsmokers against involuntary exposure to SHS don’t extend to the most vulnerable. It’s even possible that cigarettes not smoked in restaurants and bars are smoked at home—around kids.
The next logical step?
If smoking bans work, should smoking at home—in the presence of children—be illegal?
We asked online users that question in a joint Health.com/AOL Health survey, and frankly, I was a bit surprised that 47% of respondents said that, yes, smoking in homes or cars in the presence of kids should be against the law. Now these surveys are not scientific, and health-website users are presumably biased. (You’d get a different answer at, say, SocialSmokers.org, which argues that nonsmoking laws violate constitutional property rights.)
This is sacred territory—the intrusion of the state into the parental control of the child’s environment. Of course, parents are not allowed to abuse their children, but the definition of a healthy home is pretty broad. Shouldn’t Dad be able to smoke in front of the game if he wants to, even if Junior is in the room?
Those in favor of smokers’ rights will also point out that, in the obesity era, feeding Junior too many bags of chips likely fosters cholesterol or plaque levels that signal increased risk for diabetes, heart disease, and the like. When you release the Nanny State hounds, nothing will be safe from their snooping noses.
But when you consider how far attitudes toward the control of smoking have come, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a city like New York, or a state like California, make some legislative gesture in the next 10 years toward parents who smoke in closed confines when kids are present.
Read the full results of our smoking survey here, and please share your views below.
Read Harassing Smokers, Part 2: This One Touched a Real Nerve
Read 97 Reasons to Quit Smoking. (You can email it to a smoker.)
Read the latest science on quitting.
Comments (81)
Certainly smoking around kids is very risky and very selfish. I’m not sure whether it should be illegal, but it should be strongly discouraged. I’m not sure what kind of person still smokes around their kids, or anyone else’s kids. I suppose a small fine for smoking in a car that has a child inside is something that should be considered.
I am not a smoker. If smoking around children is considered to be abusive then so would not preparing nutrient packed meals and I’m not talking about processed meats and pre-made snacks and meals for kids which are all typically unhealthy. Meals that appear healthy such as frozen pot pies contain an enormous amount of sodium so it seems unrealistic to put demands on the intelligent decisions a parent should make. It is a part of life.
Perhaps we should make parents get a certificate in order to have children legally like China does then if the parents have a child without permission they can’t have a future because they don’t have a legal birth certificate. This would ensure that only people who are responsible enough to have children will procreate… Can we say communism?
while i agree parents shouldn’t be smoking around their children, the effects of second hand smoke are over exaggerated and to some extent dubious. and by dubious i mean the anti-smoking nannies will manipulate studies so that the outcomes support their cause. this is just another ploy for the government to assert more control over us and take away more of our rights.
This issue is not of communism but the well being of our future. it isn’t about taking away rights, it’s about the health and safety of children. Children don’t have the option like adults not be around smoke, they usually are with a parent who smokes, and have no choice but to inhale their bad habit. Would you perfer to sit in a house filled with smoke, or a house filled with “cleaner” air? hmm
I just wanted to make a quick comment on this story. I am not a smoker, though like the author, my father smoked a pipe all through my childhood. I don’t believe having a smoker for a parent is a sign of an abusive childhood. My father is my biggest hero, and I strive to be like him. Smoking was his only vice, and everyone should be allowed at least one. There are thousands of bad and incompetent parents out there in this country who probably have never lit up a cigarette in front of their child. Also, law enforcement agencies and social workers are already over taxed without implementing a law or penalty that deals directly with smoking.
With that being said, I also understand why so many people are up in arms about this study. It is sad that so many children are being exposed to second-hand smoke, but that does not give any governmental organization the right to step in. Rather, I think the best approach is an advertising campaign. Many parents may not realize how damaging second hand smoke is to young lungs. If the surgeon general ran commercials similar to the ones which discourage mothers from smoking, the lesson would be dispensed without infringing on anyone’s rights.
RE:ceanf
Asserting control over our rights? I was unaware we had the right to poison children, or anybody for that matter.
If people want to poison themselves, by all means, go “right” ahead. However, spare the kids, like they have the choice in most circumstances to leave or even know better.
I believe that many smokers, while some are courtious, have a selfish and one sided view their “right” to smoke around others and their children. Although they have a constitutional right to destroy their own bodies with their legal drug addiction, they have absolutly NO right to do it to others. Those around them, especially children, did not volunteer to be contantly exposed to the smoke and it’s adverse effects. It does not take much to respect your childs human and constitutional rights and step outside. Every one at their school can easily smell the smokers kids, even though the smoker parent is immune to the smell.
Be prepared for a backlash. Should you decide that I should not be legally permitted to smoke in my own home, I and a great many other smokers will be watching over your shoulders. We will cite you each time you get out of the car with a bag of fast food and each time the pizza guy comes to the door with dinner. We will call children’s services if your kid does not have a helmet on when he bikes or skateboards. We will call the authorities when you run into the convenience store and leave your kid in the car. We will follow you everywhere and find everything you do that could possibly endanger your kid. If you want to decide how I should raise my children (who are BTW grown), then I will help you raise yours even when you don’t want me to. We will be your worst nightmare, as you look over your shoulder each time you take a risk with your kid’s health. Be prepared.
Yes it should be illegal..people that smoke should take the kids health into consideration……….second hand smoke does more damage to the non smoker that the person that is smoking ..
In the Canadian provinces, especially Ontario and Nova Scotia, there are extensive smoking bans. As of April 2008, there was a law passed prohibiting smoking in any vehicle in which children are present. This law comes on the heels of smoking being banned in all bars, restaurants and pubs. Basically, the only place you CAN smoke in Canada is within the four walls of you own home. I agree completely with ALL smoking bans in place. I think the United States needs to follow the Canadians lead and start banning smoking in a variety of settings. It’s a dangerous, unhealthy habit – especially near children.
My mother smoked three packs a day when I was a kid. I was always breathing smoke. I really believe that’s why I have asthma now, when I have no other health problems. I don’t think making smoking around children in the home illegal is reasonable; such a law would be intrusive and unenforceable. But people should be made aware of the risk they’re putting their kids to. And if a policeman can stop you for not wearing a helmet on a motorcycle or a seatbelt in a car, for your own safety, why shouldn’t he cite you for smoking in a closed car with a child, for the child’s safety? Some smokers seem to think that their right to poison themselves overrrides the rights of everyone else around them, including their own kids. How dare someone tell you how to raise your kids! Yeah, for that matter, how dare anyone warn you about lead poisoning and make lead paint illegal. It’s the same thing. Except no one’s addicted to lead paint. Smokers say it’s about their rights, but it isn’t. Why don’t you smokers care more about your kids’ health than your nasty addiction?
People may have a right to do what they want with themselves, in this case smoking, but what rights do children have to say “Don’t smoke around me.” I’ve known a few people who had parents that smoked around them. One was so tired of it that she threw out her parent’s cigarettes, but no matter what she did, her parents just bought more. She walked around places smelling like smoke, and her house stunk. I remember that when ever she was around, I tended to not be, because I avoided her simply because she stunk. Another one is a health teacher. Her parents both were heavy smokers, smoking more than a pack a day, and they didn’t care if they were around her or not. When she was growing up, she had such bad asthma, that she couldn’t run from one side of a room to the other without falling over gasping for breath. Because of her many health problems, she could rarely do anything many take for granted. She eventually grew up to be more healthy, but her childhood was scarred. She even smoked some when she was younger, because her parents smoking in front of her didn’t exactly teach her not to.
So lets look some at some of the negative effects children are faced with second hand smoke,
1. Children cannot get away from the smoke, which smells and tastes extremely bad, causing some to gag.
2. Second hand smoke can cause children to have weaker respiratory systems, making them worse at sports and other activities than others, which can cause low self esteem, often leading to things such as depression, drug use, and suicidal thoughts.
3. Smoke smells on a person can cause rejection by other people, leading to many of the same things listed above.
4. Parents who smoke also have to divert time away from their children to smoke, causing the kids to lose valuable time and attention.
5. Kids who have parents that smoke around them are more likely to grow up as a smoker, with all the health problems.
Look at the information. It just shouldn’t be discouraged, it should be illegal. All of it.
The question at hand isn’t whether smoking around children is unacceptable or disgusting or even child abuse. The question is whether the government has the authority to regulate the activities such as these within the home, and, assuming they do not, should we give them that authority.
Now, although I may agree that smoking around children is an ignorant, horrible thing to do, giving the government the ability to prosecute individuals for activities such as these within the home is not the answer. Children are subjected to health risks everyday, some of which are induced by parents insofar as allowing them to eat fatty foods or not requiring them to brush efficiently or allowing them to play unsupervised or even owning weapons that the child could potentially injure him or herself with. In fact, I would go so far as to say that doling out anti-depressants and ADHD medicines constitutes a health risk. Thus, by allowing the government to regulate smoking around children, you have effectively set a precedent to allow them to regulate other things they may or may not arbitrarily consider a risk to the child, allowing more than ample opportunities to abuse that power and instilling fear in parents that, on the whole, are decent caretakers.
Education on the topic, informative adds, doctor-patient initiatives; all of these things could help alleviate the problem. But the government has consistently shown us they are not responsible with power, and the possibility of abuse of this power outweighs any conceivable benefit.
As an ex-smoker and a mom I can definitely see both sides of this issue. However, sorry smokers, I’m afraid I would accept the risk of infringing on your “rights” in order to protect your children’s health…and frankly, I’m shocked you wouldn’t. Arguing about the many other things parents do that may or may not put their children at risk is useless, there are too many unknown variables. We KNOW ciggarettes cause health problems (translates to $$ out of your pocket as well) and kill adults and children every single day. There’s no question. WE KNOW! The cat’s out of the bag…
We put our kids in car seats, we take them to the doctor to get vaccinations, and on the way home we’re lighting up a smoke? I just think it’s sad that there’s even a need for this debate…do you really need someone to tell you it’s wrong to blow a cloud of carcinogenic death in your kids face?
I hate smoking. I think smoking is stupid and I think it is harmful. But if you choose to smoke, that’s your call. The government has no jurisdiction in this matter. If I allow the government to impose my anti-smoking preference on you, it is only a matter of time before you use that same government to deprive me of my cheeseburgers and potato chips or some other freedom I hold dear. So as mush as I hate smoking, I hate the “Nanny State” more.
Homocide is illegal (obviously), so why should this much slower round-a-bout form of homicide be legal
I’m not a smoker and live in a smoke free home. Both my parents are smokers, my grandfather died of lung cancer d/t smoking, and all of my siblings and their spouses smoke. All of them smoke around their children, which I think is a crime in some way or another. As a non-smoker (with asthma and childhood respiratory problems, imagine that) I’m very sensitive to second hand smoke, so when I can’t handle being in my siblings’ homes because of the smoke, I can only imagine the damage being done the the children in the home.
That being said, I don’t think we can make it illegal to smoke around children. It’s not enforceable and its not constitutional. The solution? Ban smoking. Then it will be illegal to damage everyone’s lungs, including the children. I can respect someone’s right to destroy their own body by using something like cigarettes or alcohol, but it should not be allowed for smokers to destroy my body when I am choosing to live a healthier life.
For all the people who blame smokers for their habits, shame on you! Each cigarette is a carefully crafted formula that is specifically designed so that not only is it neart impossible to quit, the effects are so that you do not WANT to quit. Can you blame them for being suckered into advertising and pop culture that for so many years made smoking the individualist, and therefore popular thing to do. We didn’t all grow up in the time of “just say no”.
Now we know better, and cigrarette sales or falling. But turning these people who smoke into criminals is going to further erode respect for our laws, much like it has done with drinking and drugs.
I think cigarettes should just be illegal. If cigarettes were banned, we wouldnt have to worry about people smoking around there kids, or anywhere. Smoking is stupid anyway it does nothing for you except slowly kill you, and everyone else they are smoked around. Just think of all the lives that would be saved if people couldnt smoke anymore.
Our ubiquitous freedom will be our downfall. If you wont inject your child with the same chemicals why would you let them breath them? And yes I think parents with obese children should be fined and charged with child abuse and neglect. You are responsible for their well being and your laziness is not an excuse! I also think any young girls and welfare/state helped people should have to undergo some sort of long term berth control. Its no fair to me that your sorry ass cant even take care of yourself and you have the balls to have a child, which will most likely be as worthless as you! My sister is the perfect example of a welfare girl with equally worthless children who and already parents before even 18! Our society rewards the morons of the world and allows them to bread without control. Forever ruining future populations with low intelligence humans with no self control. I lump smokers in with the morons because what idiot thought inhaling smoke was going to be good for you? Just about as gullible as believing in god! Unfortunately a more widespread hoax.
It is really interesting to read everyones ideas about smoking and as a smoker I tried to quit so many times but just never happened so I recently decided that I would smoke only in my car and not inside the house because I live with 2 young siblings. I love them soo much I just cant believe that I exposed to them to second hand smoke for like 2-3 years. Even though I would always open the windows and try to get rid of the smoke. I feel soo bad.Because I was aware of how harmful it is.
So that thats but I would say that I agree with the idea of just banning cigarettes like they ban all other drugs because cigarettes are not less harmful than cocaine or hash or whatever. And also ban commercials or any other publicity about this seriously addictive drugs.
My father smoked throughout my entire childhood. However, he only smoked outside on the patio (we were discouraged to join him, or at least encouraged to play on the other side of the yard if we insisted on “being outside with Daddy”). He never smoked in his car, whether we were with him or not. He never smoked in restaurants if we were with him, or any other enclosed space.
So even though he was addicted to cigarettes, he smoked with a heart full of concern and love for his kids. Which, if you’re chemically, socially, and psychologically dependent on cigarettes is the best you can do.
I can just imagine the laws and possible consequences that would follow once we allow the nanny-state into our homes: Bedtime to late? Heavy fine. Meals not nutritious enough? Forced parenting classes. Too much TV? Oh, that’s a big one! Take the kids away!
Nobody should determine how I raise my children but me (short of child abuse). My mom is a 3-pack a day (or more) chain smoker. She is also my daycare provider. I know she smokes around my children and I don’t care. She raised me. She raised my 5 siblings. We all turned out healthy and happy.
So should I leave my kids with a smoking grandmother who loves them or a rotating staff of strangers at a daycare center? For me, the choice is easy! Grandma will win out every time!
Illegal cigarettes = same thing as drugs. People won’t stop smoking just because they’re illegal (hello, PROHIBITION?!). We have a room in our house which is actually part of the garage. To smoke you must go to that room or outside and the children are not allowed in that room. Yes, it stinks – but the rest of the house doesn’t. And the smokers of the family are happy, and my house isn’t stinky and full of burn holes and yellow walls.
Last time I paid my rent, I dont recall any of your names on it or recieving money from you, to pay it. Thats right I pay for my property which I have ownership rights to. On the accounts of the Air we breath, ownership CAN NOT be established, if you doubt this read about public property laws at your local library (classical example of econimics for property rights.) I do smoke and do find it in the choice of poor judgement to smoke around childern. I also believe that you should be responsble for the up bringing of your own childern and their health. But while your out policing the world because you feel the need to intrude on other peoples lifestyles, you leave your childern behind, embrassed and humilated until their adulthood. Does anyone ever take into account all the people that choose NOT to have kids?
I grew up in a house with a Mom and Dad who smoked. they brought their smoker firends in too. My brother and I would go in our rooms and put towels under the doors to keep the smoke out. If we said anything about it to my parents, we were never listened to just like a lot of kids out there. They have no voice. Be a responsible parent! I am a mom now and I guess that I am learning from my parents mistakes. As a person in the US we have the right to smoke in our own homes, but think of the kids. The ones with no voices!!
Well in Maine they have already passed laws banning smoking in the car with children under 16 effective September 1. I do not believe the government has the right to infringe upon people’s rights within their own property. Nobody cared when the rest of us were kids, a lot of us probably turned into smokers by our parents and all of the second hand smoke. The government just needs to butt out (haha) of our personal business and worry more about energy prices and getting our troops home where they belong.
Whether you make the law or not, it will be very difficult or nearly impossible to enforce except in a few scenarios (example: cop pulls someone over and finds smoking parent with kid in car). Most people know it is bad for kids to inhale second hand smoke. Increasing awareness could make it even more obvious. It is very irresponsible to smoke around your kid, but I just don’t see making it against the law being extremely helpful. It will piss off a lot of people as I can see reading these comments. Will it help a lot of kids? Probably not. Some? Perhaps in some scenarios (in open public where a cop might see).
People that smoke in front of their kids probably don’t give a crap about their safety anyway. They probably don’t make them wear bike helmets. They probably let them play with matches and knives. They probably don’t watch them carefully when playing outside. They probably let them eat whatever they want (fast food, candy, etc). Chances are the law will only anger the good parents and have only minor effect on the loser parents.
To all the bum parents out there, it is sad to see that issues like this (and others) are so prevalent that many people feel the government should call the shots when it comes to parenting decisions.
They passed a “no smoking in cars with kids” law here in California, too. It is widely ignored. The chances of getting caught are pretty small since it is easy enough to hold the cigarette low and check for cops before puffing. Tint the back windows and the chances of getting caught drop to next to nothing! I just love when governments make laws that are totally unenforceable just so it can look like they’re doing something productive. I have an idea, how about they stop worrying about how I raise my kids and start worrying about real problems such as gas prices, the housing crisis, the failing educational system…
I am a smoker….
I do not smoke in my house, and seldom smoke in a car with my son (always with the windows open), and smoke outside at work. If you want to put all these rules in place, when and where I can smoke in my personal life, then just ban cigarettes and tobacco altogether. Wouldn’t that be easier? We put laws in place for smoking age, drinking age, and ban illeagal drugs. Um, can you say prohibition? Yeah, that worked. War on drugs? thats been productive and hasn’t costed much.
What we need to ask ourselves is why the government wants to impose all these rules, fines, (and in some circumstances like drugs) and jail time. Oh yeah, if they altogether banned cigarettes, we would lose out on too much govenment money from taxes, fines, and especially campaign money from special intrest groups like big tobacco.
Ask the government to make billion dollar sacrifices and see where it gets you, its like asking smokers to stop smoking….
Cars give off toxic fumes, and trucks are seldom regulated, lets ban those too. Large businesses create tons of pollution. Thats bad for us, lets run them out of town. Lets ban the manufacturing of plastics, rubber, ore. The byproducts are killing the environment and hurting our society.
Oh yeah, don’t use natural gas in your homes, keep your children away from campfires, don’t buy electric from the power company as they use coal for fuel. In fact, the healtiest thing you can do is crawl into a hole and spend the rest of your days there.
My father smoked my entire childgood. He is now suffering from emphysema. My oldest and youngest sisters smoked while they were pregnant. I find myself thinking less of them as well as my father. I was so happy to have public smoking banned and would support 100% a ban on smoking in the presence of children. They do not have a choice, it’s time for parents to grow up and take some responsibility. Maybe they should have thought twice before having children if they are just going to put them in harms way. Sorry, it just angers me that this is even an issue. Parents need to put their children FIRST!!!!!
My parents both smoked at least a pack a day and probably more when I was a child. I had no asthma, no allergies, no poor side affects. I am no grown and smoke pipes and cigars myself. I am college educated, happily married, a martial arts instructor and capable of running 4 miles without stopping to catch my breath. Obviously I don’t feel my parents’ life choice of smoking as abusive nor do I see, from personal experience, second hand smoke to be the ticking time bomb that people like to claim it is.
When I was a young child my dad smoked. He never smoked around me or my brother but sometimes we would see him with the cigarettes. One day when I was in preschool I saw him with a cigarette in his office. I remember telling him he shouldn’t smoke because it was bad for him. I never saw him smoke again- he stopped after that. My mother has 4 brothers and almost all of them smoke. My mom and I hate going over to their houses because they smoke inside and you come out smelling like it- even for a brief visit. While building a house we used a set of bunk beds that my aunt and uncle had. My brother and I hated it because no matter what my mom did the smell wouldn’t leave. I cannot imagine being a young child and having to grow up with that. It is inconsiderate and selfish. Oh yeah, and now most of my cousins smoke and inside their house with their young kids because they were never taught any better. While passing a law is not the way to go about addressing this issue it does need to be taken care of and the way to that is through education. I agree about passing laws for public buildings but there is no way to regulate parent’s smoking in their OWN houses.
Personally I don’t see why people even start smoking these days and I get really frustrated with some of my friends who are really heavy smokers. If they can’t care enough about their own health to stop smoking they should think of others.
In the state of Maine, you will get fined if you are caught smoking in a vehicle with a minor present. America is about the freedom of choice. I do not agree and would never encourage someone to smoke much less around a child whether it be their own or someone elses. However, I do believe it goes against our rights as americans to bring the ban to the level where you can be fined for smoking in your own home. As long as you’re a good law abiding citzen you should be able to exercise your civil liberties. I just hope that parents will be responsible enough ot understand while it is their choice to smoke, their child too should have the choice not to be around it.
Here’s the deal. Smoking is a horrid, nasty habit that makes your home stink, makes your clothes stink,it makes my health insurance rates climb annually, and let’s not get started about your breath. Let’s see…..what else…..OH YEAH! It causes CANCER dumby!!! HELLO!!!!!!!! While I am not a big fan of government intrusion on ones personal business I do believe that if a person doesn’t have the good sense Gawd (intentional misspell) gave a bastard rat then he/she needs this type of legal incentive not to expose a small child to a known cancer causing agent. Would you rub your child down with something you knew, at the very least, could make them ill? NOOOOOOO! Look, I truly do understand how hard quiting is. My husband quit before we were married, and he did struggle,but he thanks me everyday. He watched his mom suffer and die slowly from emphysema. His father died from lung cancer, which ultimately took over his entire body. The only real memory he has of his father is watching his mother try to bathe him, while the water in the bath turned a light pink as the blood from his sutures was washed away. He was 3. Trust me your kids don’t just suffer from the physical effects of smoking. They are saddled with the emotional effects of watching you die from a very preventable disease. So, while I may seem harsh, it is because I have seen what smoking related illness can do to a family, and it is devastating.
I am a fourteen year old who had to watch her father die of lung cancer.
He died two years ago, and he suffered from cancer for about 2 years.
He was not a smoker.
His parents were.
My grandparents terrible habit took away half of his life.
Lung cancer is a horrible disease. My Dad could barely breathe and he couldnt sleep without being hooked up to an unbelievbaly loud machine every night at home. We were constantly reminded of his disease because he would have coughing fits all the time. Towards the last couple months of his life he had a tube under his skin near his throat where my mom would drain fluid out of his lungs every night.
Smoking is a horrific habit. Don’t take away your children’s life like my grandparents took away my father’s.
California has a new law against smoking in cars with kids. From my observations, it is widely ignored. The chances of getting caught are miniscule because it is so easy to hold the cigarette low and check the surroundings for cops before puffing. Tint the back windows and the chances of getting caught drop to next to nothing. I hate when governments make laws that cannot be enforced (and that butt unneccessarily in people’s lives) just so they can feel like they’re being productive. I wish the lawmakers would spend their time solving real problems like the energy crisis, the housing crisis, the healthcare crisis…
it never ceases to amaze me just how selfish these drug addicts are, always trying to justify there habits.
anyone that attempts to make me smoke gets told in no uncertain terms that they are a danger to me and will be dealt wiht accoringly. believe me, no one argues…
kl, noone can “make” you smoke. If you’re in a place that prohibits smoking, you have the right to ask the person to put it out or complain to the management. If you’re in one of the few places where smoking is still allowed, you have the right to leave. Problem solved, no threats necessary.
Smoking in front of kids is disgusting and wrong i admit it but wat people do in their own home or car should be their buisness not nobody else’s. I Can see them banning smoking in resterants and public places i support that but not people’s personal property.
It’s Getting Bad When Their Trying To Make Where I Cant Even Smoke In My Own Home
Why are they fussing on us for smoking its our choice it’s not theirs and. And their trying to make it where i cant smoke in my car or home i dont think thats right. I think smoking around kids is wrong and disgusting
I am a parent who smokes, BUT-
I DO NOT smoke in my home or car, I did not smoke during pregnancy or nursing, and if outside I do not smoke within smelling distance of my child, anyone else’s child and I will at least have the courtesy to ask a nonsmoker if they mind. It is irresponsible to smoke around children and rude to smoke around nonsmokers, people that do not have a choice of what they are breathing in.
Do I believe smoking in a car or home should be illegal around children? Do I believe it is child abuse? Not necessarily. If people are determined to smoke, they will, whether or not their children are present and whether or not there is a law against it. How do you enforce something like that anyway?
As a mother, as a smoker, the child of smokers and the granddaughter of a lady that suffered for 30 years AFTER quitting smoking until the day she died- I just want to make a few points before I am on my way.
1. People wouldn’t want to quit smoking if it wasn’t bad for you. WHY would you want to do that to your kid?
2. Just because visible smoke dissipates DOES NOT mean that the many carcinogens do immediately. WHY would you want to do that to your child?
3. Secondhand smoke compromises the immune system. Do I really need to say it again?
There are far more effects that I do not have the time to list, some of which I have experienced myself. It is not the end of the world, not the point is that people are ignorant and near-sighted when it comes to things like this. It is selfish to put your habit above your children. Just because you do not see the immediate effects DOES NOT mean that you aren’t harming them. I’ve known people that have had babies and children that have turned out okay, or somewhat okay. I’ve also known people that have had babies be the poster child for anti-prenatal smoking or children be the perfect picture of the RISK you are taking when you smoke around your children, myself included.
POINT BEING: Why take an unnecessary risk with your child’s health? You can’t protect your kids from every risk and danger, but why add to it? When you smoke, you are making a conscious decision to take that risk with your own health, why take that chance with your kids? You aren’t necessarily a bad parent if you smoke around your children, just an ignorant one.
I am a young mother of a beautiful healthy 18 month old baby girl. I am also a smoker. I have never smoked a cigarette in the house with my child, nor have I ever smoked with my child in the car. I try not to even smoke in the car when she’s not in it just because I don’t want her getting in a car that rots like tobacco. My baby rarely gets ill. My sister and her 2 1/2 year old and 11 year old now live with me. She smokes in the room that she shares with her two children, with no windows open, even though the other 3 smokers in the house smoke ever cigarette outside. Her baby always has a cough, she always has a cold with a runny nose, and she frequently gets ear infections. In the past month and a half she has lived here, my child has been sick almost the entire time because her child has been sick. It makes me sick to my stomach to know that her bad behavior is making my child ill. I have asked her repeatedly to quit smoking up there, but her response is that she can raise her children however she wants. What do I do? Does anyone have any advice? If I could afford to leave, I would already be gone; same with her. Smoking around children is disgusting. It is a proven fact that smoking near children can cause illness. It weakens their immune systems making it so easy for them to pick up germs and viruses and then to pass them on to other children. Please stop the epidemic!!! Everyone judges… and I don’t feel that I am wrong for deeming her a bad mother for what she does to her children;(she has a variety of bad habits among smoking in front of them.) Why are people still exposing their children to nicotine, tar, and carcinogens that make up cigarettes. As an adult smoker, I can attest to the fact that it is EXTREMELY hard to quit. I have even read that the withdrawl symptoms of quitting smoking cigarettes are similar to those of heroin users and crack addicts. YOU ARE MAKING YOUR CHILD SICK. YOU ARE MAKING YOUR CHILD AN ADDICT. Be a good parent, think of your children FIRST and not your habit. If someone gave you a choice, give up your children or give up cigarettes, what would you choose? The obvious answer is your children, but if that were the case, you wouldn’t expose them to your toxic habit.
jesus christ you are all a bunch of whiny #$##$#$! Screw the children! We have more than enough people on this rock as it is. There has to be a method of weeding out the weak and unfit since we have defeated most of the other ways nature used t use to do this. SMOKE ON!
I am fifteen years old and I wholeheartedly support a ban on smoking around minors. My mother smokes when she is around us a lot. If we have to go outside to talk to her in private, she doesn’t even listen to any of us if we ask her nicely to not smoke around us. She also smokes in our van and I can’t get out for fear of a severe injury/being committed to a loony bin under suicide watch. But then again, by being in the van, my lungs are being severely poisoned b/c she won’t put out the cigarette even if I ask nicely and even if I hold my breath, she will hit me and call me a rude bitch for it. And even if she doesn’t catch me, I feel lightheaded and am on the verge of fainting from the stress put on my lungs from holding my breath. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Because I am forced to endure her smoke, I am prone to sneezing/coughing more than other kids my age and have been asked if I smoke tobacco. I also can’t run as fast without having to catch my breath and so I see myself as a wimp and others see me this way too. This wouldn’t happen if only I didn’t have to endure her nasty habit. Those are my reasons for supporting a ban on smoking. Whoever said screw the kids belongs down there along with Hitler, in my opinion. It is attitudes like the one posted above that sparked the Holocaust. Smoking causes so much damage to physical and mental health, not to mention the environment. So why keep it around?!
My mother died 2 days ago ftpm lung cancer. My dad died 6 years ago from lung cancer. They both smoked a pack/day. My mother smoked while she was pregnant, breastfeeding, in the car and everywhere else. My brother and I puked when we went out on longer car trips. It was horrible.
I am a scientist. I dont blame them. Nicotine is as additive ad heoine.
Make it illigal like any other drug that kills.
I is a no brainer.
Gitte
I can’t believe you people are comparing smoking around kids to eating pizza or watching TV. How sad, selfish and ignorant you are. Pizza didn’t make me develop asthma and allergies, have chronic ear infections which required hospitalization as a kid, cause deformity in my jaw due to breathing problems, or cause me to be a shunned by kids at school because I stunk of smoke so bad. TV didn’t yellow my teeth and nails or make me cough up phlegm like secondhand smoke did. One of my earliest memories was running to hug my mom when she was holding a cigarette and getting a horrible burn on my hand. Did she quit smoking around me? No. Another memory is being in the car with my dad and him smoking with all the windows rolled up and me being in tears begging him to stop because I couldn’t breathe. His response? To yell at me and accuse me of “buying into the liberal bull—- propaganda they teach in schools these days”. To this day I still resent my parents because they clearly loved cigarettes more than they ever loved me. I am also dealing with all of the very real consequential health problems that their smoking caused.
Ban it.
I am a high school student and i won’t even take the time to read peoples comments who say “parents smoking around their kids shouldn’t be illegal”? My mom smokes in the car, in the house, anywhere. Even when i tell her, “could you not smoke around me, i cant breathe!” or “could you smoke when we get out of the car so i dont smell like it?” she doesn’t care. if i complain about her smoking in the car when we’re going somewhere together i get told “if all you’re going to do is complain about my smoking we’ll turn around!”
AS OF RIGHT NOW, my high school will be calling protective services on my mother because not only do i have asthma, my mom is so addicted to cigarettes she could care less if i was on a death bed for her smoking, even that wouldn’t make her quit. My friends dont want to come over to my house anymore! they say they will smell like smoke, or their parents will think they’re the ones smoking. Even my boyfriend’s parents asked him to try avoid going to my house, and going to their house instead. And after the school even called my mom, you would think she would stop? Nope. She lights one up right in front of me.
It’s not fair. My lungs shouldn’t be ruined just because of her. I shouldn’t have to be at risk for lung cancer just because of her. I shouldn’t have to smell like smoke all the time just because of her. I shouldn’t have to take an unecessary amount of showers just so my hair wont smell like a bar, before i go out somewhere. Smoking around children, no matter what age, is rude,selfish, and should be considered a crime.
reguardless what anybody else has to say. i’m not saying what ever parent smokes is a bad parent, but what i am saying is that smoking around kids SHOULD be illegal. And i pray to God that day will come soon, because i would like to be able to breathe.
Obviously everyone knows the dangers they are putting there children into when they smoke near them or in a car with them. If they don’t they are just pure stupid. I’m guessing they are just too selfish to go away from a child or to wait. Putting up campaigns and such are not going to help, they already know what they are doing is wrong, but that hasn’t stopped them, why would some campaign stop them. Why shouldn’t it be illegal, if a parent can’t properly take care of a child, then someone needs to speak up for that child. What about the childs rights, or does the child not have any. It is up to us to let children’s voices be heard. You let me know one child that would enjoy sitting in a car full of smoke, or coughing because they’re breathing in hazordous smoke instead of fresh air. Maybe if people weren’t so selfish we wouldn’t even need to discuss this, but that’s obviously not the case, is it.
My 3 yeard old grandson was in the ER a few days ago. He was having breathing problems. His new baby brother (one month old), and two sisters ages 5 and 2 were with their Granny. My daughter-in-laws mother. I was very upset. Granny and PaPa both smoke when the kids are around. Smokers don’t care! I wonder when it will be their turn to end up in the ER for breathing problems. My daughter-in-law, just acted like she didn’t know why he had gotten sick. “It just happened all of a sudden”! Yeah right! They have been exposed to smoke since the day they were all born. I hate it. I told her that before I die, I will do my damdest to make smoking in confined areas around children; illegal! It is form of abuse and neglect! I mean really, if you can go outside to smoke because a restaraunt is smoke free, why not go outside for your kids or grandids at home? What does that tell you about that person? SMOKERS, simply don’t care!
My life has been somewhat ruined because of my mother’s smoking. I used to be very healthy when I was younger, but not I have breathing problems and allergies. When I was younger people would complain I stink of smoke and it has ruined job interviews for me.
all you people who are saying that you should be able to smoke where ever you want should suck a c h o d e
That sounds like a great idea, but is it a solution? Well the answer is purely up to the parents who smoke around their kids. What the rest of us can do is hope that they grow out of that selfish and ignorant stage they are in, and realize that they are harming their children. Suggestions go outside on your lawn.
My mom is a smoker, so I have to be around it all the time. I don’t even go downstairs to talk to her because being down there for just a couple of minutes will cause me to smell like smoke. It makes me sneeze, it smells awful, and she refuses to go outside to do it. I think it’s unacceptable to smoke around children, or ANYONE who is bothered by it.
Why would we even ask the question whether this or any other form of child abuse should be legal? People who smoke in the home with children present are causing irreperable harm to their children. In a world not tainted by the insanity caused by big tobacco advertizing it would simply be a no brainer!
You are an idiot if you smoke around children. You are also an idiot if you smoke around pets, other people….actually, you are simply an idiot if you smoke. Do the research on how many added chemicals are in cigarettes, this along should be enough to make you stop. The tobacco companies have actually added things to your cigarettes to make you even more addicted to them. Why would anyone support that?
I have only one word for people that smoke in front of children or adults.
Selfish, selfish, selfish!!!!!
My Mom smokes, I hate it. I just read that it can have long-term effects on my health, I’ve told her, she hasn’t stopped since I started talking about it in 5th grade… I’m in 10th now…
Like Rebekah, she won’t even go outside to smoke. Selfish.
The things in my life for which I am most ashamed and regret the most is that I smoked throughout both pregnancies and when my children were growing up!
I am sorry, sorry, sorry for smoking in their space … sorry for taking them to the homes of others who smoked!
Thank G-d neither of them smokes. For that I’m grateful. I watched my mom die of lung cancer and my brother of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. My father also smoked — he died of colon cancer. And I smoked more than the 3 of them put together — 4 packs a day for many years, totaling 34 years of lung and air contamination.
ALL tobacco should be banned!! What benefits are gained from smoking, except to reward the coffers of the tobacco companies and the health industry???
Gentle as you go…
Absolutely! We hear people complaining about schools and teachers and the healthcare… what about the smoke that damages their lungs? If a child eats an apple with a razor-blade we get upset, why not smoking? I have taught my son to know that there is absolutely nothing beneficial about smoking. We live in a big city where children here have a near 45% chance higher of getting asthma than other kids. Now look at the long-term costs on healthcare. Now look at premature and painful deaths. Tell me how a child that is 6 that has asthma, and that cannot get the proper exercise can maintain a healthy weight is supposed to be a non-issue? IT IS ILLEGAL TO KILL right?
Just a heads-up to my Above post …
I got double pneumonia in August 1985 and was hospitalized for 2 weeks on full oxygen and IVs …
I haven’t smoke a cigarette since then and stay away from anyone who does smoke. They smell awful … as I must have, too!!!
Gentle as you go …
YES!!! I think it should definitely be illegal. I had to endure both of my parents smoking around me my entire childhood. When I went to school, I would sometimes get in trouble because I smelled like smoke so badly that the school officials thought I was the one that was smoking. It didn’t matter if I took a shower because just being in my parent’s vehicle on the way to school, they would smoke. My friends never wanted to come over because their parents didnt want them coming home smelling like smoke. Now I have breathing problems. My parents even smoked around me when I was pregnant with my son. I avoided being around them as much as possible, but after my son was born, we found out he has a heart defect from me being around smoke. And the comment from “D” above, you are such a COWARD you can’t even show your name. “Screw the children. Weed out the weak and unfit”?!?! I think you are probably one of the sickest people I have ever met. You are the kind of person that should be drug in the street and someone kick the crap out of you. Kids don’t have a say in what kind of environment they are in. Why not make it a safe and healthy environment? And for your information “D” you wouldn’t even be alive if your parents didn’t want ‘children’ so why don’t you do us a favor and shut up
Smoking in public should be illegal. Smoking around children should be illegal. Smoking is proven to be a health hazard to smokers and non-smokers alike. This isn’t a civil rights issue, its a health issue. The health of non-smokers trumps any right by smokers to smoke in public. Plus, the number 1 litter item is cigarette butts. Need any more reasons to ban it?
secondhand-smoke is nothing more than a hoax.
All forms of smoking should be eradicated from humanity.
Be careful what you wish for!
I’m 58 and have been around smokers all my life and I have to tell ya, I don’t know 1 person now or ever that has died from Lung cancer or lung problems.
A person use to be able to smoke ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE, grocery store, Drs. office, at work.
Then some idiot decided it was bad for you(I think it was just a way to get govenment money). Who new it was going to turn into a LIFE OR DEATH thing!
Its just one more cause…..to raise money.
You really think the govenment or anyone for that matter care about you your health or your childs health.
NEXT………You really want to protect your children, take away the soda, chips, McDonalds and all that junk food crap that is causing our children to be obese.
Diabetes is REAL and more and more children are getting it. With poor diet and NO exercise.
If you want govenment to go after one culprit then you better go after ALL of them.
Then we can ALL LIVE FOREVER!
By the way I DON’T smoke.
I say make it illegal. A bad diet is simply a poor implimentation of eating; we do require food to survive. There is nothing inherantly physiologically proper about smoking, and we have a mountain of evidence that tells us that smokers are hazards to themselves and everyone around them. As an ER physician, I am sick and tired of seeing childhood illnesses, particularly asthma, that are obviously affected by their parents’ smoking. Being a parent means having a duty to the well-being of one’s child, and blasting them with toxins day in and day out certainly qualifies as neglect of that duty.
It amazes me how many of the posters above are children of smokers (some very young I might add) that support the ban. These kids have more sense then their irresponsible, simple minded, selfish, why did you ever have children, parents. I am 35, my mother smoked when preg, smoked around me until I remember her quitting when I was 9. Do I blame her for my health problems or think she was a terrible mom for it? Of course not, back then people didn’t know any better or the research was just really coming out. The difference is WE KNOW BETTER NOW! Back then car seats were not mandatory, neither were helmets, you let your 4-5 year old play outside without a worry and putting an infant to sleep on their stomach was recommended. Did every single one of those children grow up with Asthma, got killed in car accidents, fracture skulls due to no helmets, get kidnapped or molested, or die of SIDS? No, most of us survived and thrived however we learned from those who did not. We changed our ways because of the ones who died or were injured. We learn from our mistakes, or at least most of us did. If you’re a smoker and want to hurt yourself then that’s fine, however you have NO RIGHT to hurt others. Especially your children, just because they are your children. When you become a parent you do not become an owner of a human. You are being blessed with the gift of raising them. It’s sad and pathetic that some adults can’t see past their own selfishness for the health and well being of their children.
I do not think it should be illegal. That is a bogus idea that will never work. If a parent steps away from the child’s vacinity to have a puff outside and the child has a question, like kids ALWAYS do, it would be stupid to arrest or fine the parent for smoking just because their kid may have came outside to ask them that question.
PLUS how on earth would there be enforcement of such a law? There wouldn’t be.
The idea of having homes checked daily/periodically is plain absurd and I doubt that a neighbor calling 911 to tell police that she saw her neighbor smoking in the same room as her kid would be an incident put on top priority for law enforcment.
Smoking around ANYONE that is not a smoker should be illegal. Not just children it impairs the breathing of all people. Especially those with C.O.P.D
This is like Welfare twenty(20)years ago telling me I can’t have a phone or a car. Or, government telling me that I can’t believe in God. All these things are called rights. My rights have already been restricted enough that my VA health care providers are pushing just enough pills to keep me going. I am disabled because of government’s involvement in my health care. I will lose legs before the bloodclot is removed. I grew up believing in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I have a half life only.
Of course smoking around minors should be illegal, the only problem is that our government is run by special interest groups (smokers) and lobbyist for the tabacco companies.
But thankfully the laws are slowly catching up – in California you cannot smoke with a minor in the car.
This is similar to the current case where the mother and son fled because the parents did not believe that chemo will cure their son. The courts found the mother in contempt and ruled that the parents’ religious beliefs were compromising their son’s health. Isn’t smoking around minors compromising their health?
To Linda – you are very fortunate that no one around you has died from lung cancer.
I’ve lost my father, uncle, aunt, best friend’s father, and uncle-in-law all to LUNG cancer. All were life-long smokers (except my aunt) with the youngest death (my uncle at 48) and the oldest my aunt (72). (My aunt by-the-way, did not smoke but lived with a smoker for 35 years and somehow “mysteriously” developed lung cancer. Her husband died twelve years prior to her death of lung cancer as well.)
And yes, I’ve had asmtha most of my life, so Linda, either you are blissfully ignorant or painfully stupid. Either way, I do agree with you on one point – I don’t believe in our government, I believe in the reality that 1/4 of the adults in my family have died of lung cancer.
screw you
I think it is all a bunch of CRAP! I don’t smoke and i could care a less what other people do in there life’s. This is a FREE Country so why don’t we continue to let it be FREE, and quit complaining about the small stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is the people that worry about this kind of thing, that are going to make ALL OF US suffer. So if you want to smoke or if you don’t WHATEVER! Get over it……. How about we worry about the things that matter!
Alright I am married to a smoker but he respects those who don’t & that is rare of a smoker most don’t care. I have 2 kids & thier father and his wife smoke around the kids & don’t care that one of them is asthmatic. I think smokers need to be forced to respect at least thier children’s rights to live healthy. I want to support & promote the causse of Stop the Smoking Around Children! Kids can’t just get away from it when in the car or in thier own homes.
Smoking around children should be demolished it is easy to stop smoking once you put your mind to it and get help.
I am a smoker with two young children. More of a social smoker, actually. I would never, EVER smoke in an enclosed space, such as my home or car with my children present. This is SO wrong. It is unfair for innocent children to be exposed to smoke. My parents smoked in our house when I was a child, and it was horrible. Smoke stinks, and is uncomfortable even for me now to have to inhale secondhand smoke when I choose not to. It is not just a part of life. If you are an adult and you wish to put yourself in the vicinity of smoke, then so be it. But a child can’t just walk away like we can. If you can’t be mature enough to respect children’s rights, you shouldn’t be allowed to smoke in the first place. Only white trash idiots smoke with their children around!!