Parentlink - Smoking

Where am I?

Home

Parenting guides

Issues specific to parents

Smoking

Click here for a printable version of this document

The text for this topic is copyright Parenting SA, Government of South Australia.

People have been smoking or chewing tobacco for 2000 years, usually as a part of their culture or religious ceremonies. In many cultures smoking is still widely accepted.

After years of research we know so much more about what smoking does to people’s health. Now in our society there is a greater effort to protect ourselves and our children from the harmful effects of tobacco smoke in cigarettes (and cigars and pipes).

This guide is one way to help parents think about smoking, passive smoking (second-hand smoking) and the impact it has on us and our children.

Why do people smoke?

People smoke for many different reasons.

Some people:

Believe it calms them down and helps them cope with stress in their lives
Believe it helps them to eat less and to lose weight
Believe it makes them more alert and improves their concentration
Are influenced by their friends or parents who smoke
Become addicted (especially if they started as a young teenager).

Young people may:

Be attracted to the ‘image’ of smoking if they think it makes them look tough, cool, sexy, more grown-up, attractive
Want to believe smoking helps make friends and makes them more popular.
Smoking is addictive
When people continue to smoke their bodies learn to depend on the nicotine to feel normal. The need to satisfy the craving means they are likely to smoke more and more. Nicotine is more addictive than heroin or cocaine.
Addiction can happen because:
Out of habit people smoke when doing certain things without really being aware of any real ‘craving’ for a cigarette, for example, talking on the phone, with coffee, alcohol, or sitting around with friends
The urge to smoke can be linked to feelings, for example, the need for an ‘emotional boost’, when under stress, angry or bored.
The longer a person smokes, and the more smoked a day, the harder it is to give up. Most smokers find it hard to stop because their bodies are physically addicted to the nicotine.

What is passive smoking?

Whenever people smoke, those around them smoke too.

Passive smoking, sometimes called second-hand smoking, means breathing in other people’s smoke. It can be the smoke that someone has breathed out or the smoke that floats around in the air.

Smoke is made up of chemicals and very small pieces of ash remain in the air long after the cigarette, pipe or cigar is out.

The smoke also sticks to clothes, furniture, walls and the inside of the car after the smoker has left, and even when the smell has cleared.

What harm does it do?

Passive smoking increases your child’s chances of become sick.

It can cause:

Chest infections
Coughing and wheezing
Ear infections
Asthma
SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) or ‘cot death’
Dental decay
Smoking and passive smoking can cause pregnant women to have babies that are born underweight, unwell or have poor lung development
Breathing second-hand smoke as a child can affect the lungs throughout life.
Passive smoke can trigger an asthma attack for a child with sensitive airways.
Exposure to other people’s smoke over a long period can cause lung cancer and heart disease.

What you should know

There is no ‘safe level’ of smoking.
Children with a parent who smokes have an increased risk of disease and hospital visits.
Children with a parent who smokes are twice as likely to take up smoking themselves in adolescence.
Smoking in another room or by an open window is not enough to prevent children from being exposed to tobacco smoke.
Cigarettes and cigarette ash are poisonous.
A baby or child who eats a cigarette or even just a butt can become very sick.
Babies and children have suffered burns from adults’ cigarettes and ash.
Lit cigarettes can inflict serious injuries to children’s eyes.
Matches and lighters in children’s hands can cause serious accidents.

What can you do

Parents are the most powerful role models for their children. Even though you may tell your children not to smoke, they are more likely to copy what you do than what you say.
The best action you can take is to quite smoking. You might need support to succeed.
Talk with your children about the dangers of smoking, listen to what they have to say and be clear about your views.
Keep ashtrays, cigarette packs, matches and lighters away from your children.
Make it known that your home and car are smoke-free zones.
Support smoking prevention programs and ‘no-smoking’ policies in schools.

What we can do as a family

Do not allow smoking in enclosed spaces.
Have smoking areas outside where smoke can’t drift inside.
Ask visitors to smoke outside.
Place ‘no-smoking’ stockers in your home and car.
What about my child smoking>
Most parents don’t want their child to smoke, even if they do so themselves.
For parents who don’t smoke, or who have quit, they can find it so disappointing when faced with their child smoking.
Many children will experiment with smoking if peer pressure is powerful.
Many teenagers will experiment with smoking (and other behaviours) and challenge their parents’ rules in their need to be independent. This time of ‘testing out’ in adolescence can create pressures within a family.

For some teenagers being told not to do something can trigger them to do the very thing parents advise against.

It helps to:

Be clear about your reasons for not wanting your child to smoke
Give balanced information from an outside source about the pros and cons (rather than over-reacting in an emotional way)
Focus on the effects of smoking, for example, the smell, losing fitness, the effects on the skin, hair and teeth and the cost
Explain to your daughter that per periods may be heavier and more painful
Ask for honesty from your child – so that he will be up-front’ about it (if you have a good relationship this is more likely to work)
Have clear family rules about smoke-free zones inside your house and car. Constant nagging can set up barriers between you both
Have consequences if the rules are broken (these work well if worked out together before a crisis)
Help your child to find activities where they feel good about themselves and where they can achieve some independence. Things like sport, music, movies, bike riding, bush walking or computer games
Support your child to quit. Recognise how hard it is and that it takes more than the first try. Get information that will help.
Eighty per cent of young people who smoke regularly continue to smoke as adults.

What the law says in the ACT

Young people under 18 years cannot buy any smoking products, including cigarettes and cigars.
It is an offence for anyone to sell smoking products to a person under 18 years.
It is an offence to buy smoking products on behalf of (for) someone under 18.
It is an offence to use another person’s ID or to use forged ID to obtain smoking products.

Reminders

Children learn from you and copy what they see.
If you smoke around your children the smoke with you.
Passive smoking increases your child’s chances of becoming sick.
Exposure to other people’s smoke over a long period can cause lung cancer and heart disease.
Every step you take to protect your children from passive smoke will help improve their health.
Every cigarette causes damage.
If you decide that now is a good time to quit smoking there are people who can help.
Give your children a smoke-free home and car.

Want more information?

ParentLink www.parentlink.act.gov.au 13 34 27

Parentline (9am-9pm Mon-Fri, except for public holidays) 6287 3833

Cancer Council www.cancercouncil.org.au 13 11 20

Child and Youth Health (parenting and child health information) www.cyh.com

Oxygen www.oxygen.org.au

Quitline www.quit.org.au 13 78 48

Your local doctor

See other ParentLink guides

ACT Govt Publication No 07/0849 July 2007

Top