Smoking (Cigarettes)

[AvsJoe]

I am going to do to my kids what my dad did to me. First I'll establish a reputation of following through on my threats. Then, when my kid is around 10 or 11, I'll threaten to seriously wound and/or kill him/her if I catch him/her smoking a cigarette or cigar. It worked on me; I'm paranoid to touch the damn things even now. Suffice to say, it worked.

 

[DazZ.]

I'd teach him to roll, then he can roll mine in the morning in trade for one himself.
Can't beat a cup of tea and a cigarette in the morning.

I can pretty much guarantee my offspring will smoke.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

If my kids want to smoke then they can smoke. I will, however, present them both the good and the bad of smoking since that's my job as a parent. If he/she wants to continue smoking then that's his choice but if he or she chooses to eventually stop then that's his choice as well.

 

[Lizardon]

I don't smoke and can't stand it when people smoke around me. The smell makes me gag.

I had a very anti-smoking upbringing, neither of my parents smoked and they both preached the dangers of smoking. I also had asthma and a granddad who was a terrible smoking and had very poor health, which put me of smoking.

I would make it very clear to any child of mine that I dissaprove of smoking and would be dissapointed in them if they started, but after they turn 18 it's ultimately their choice to make.

 

[hippykiller]

eh i smoked for 6 years. it was a bad habit and im glad i shook it. but if i had a child who was 17 and smoked i suppose i couldn't be too angry with him. i mean just as long as hes not doing it to be popular or cool. i suppose its his choice and he'll just have to learn on his own how bad it is for you.

 

[BluenetteDiviner]

I am a full time smoker and I'm 16... as long as I don't do it in the house my dad is fine with it, even though he disagrees with it completely. His dad died of it and my mum recently had a stroke because of smoking.

But if my children started smoking I would be perfectly fine with it. It's their lives, who am I to tell them how to live it?

You can't become old and wise if you were never young and crazy

 

[Mistermixmaster]

I don't mind people smoking, as long as I don't end up breathing the smoke too. But if I had a kid that smoked I'd try to talk said kid out of it, as smoking does have some seriously dangerous consequences.

 

[bumptheelephant]

I'm currently trying to give up smoking at the moment (see the thread on e-cigarettes) been smoking on and off for 18 years (mainly on)-honestly wish i hadn't started now. My parents have never smoked and weren't impressed when they found out; especially beecause both me and my dad have asthma. I haven't got any children, but if I did then I'd be honest with them and say that I used to smoke (I'm quitting this week)but that at 16- I was on a reliever inhaler only (used it about once a week); at 34 I'm on the purple one too every evening (250mg)as a preventer; yeah, my asthma is very well controlled but the facts speak for themselves. It isn't smart, you get a cough and basically the smell of stale smoke is vile. Enough said.

 

[SilverApple]

First of all, I would congratulate myself on having achieved such a lofty socio-economic status that my children have money to burn.

Then, I would discuss the physical, social, and moral downsides of smoking. This would *deep breath* include but not be limited to: the mechanisms of lung damage, the unpleasantness of living (and then dying of) emphysema, the link to osteoporosis (incidentally, my mother, a lifelong smoker, has pretty severe osteoporosis- diagnosed at 46), how bronchitis feels, how my mother couldn't afford Christmas presents for me as a child, the effect on fetuses, the link to prematurity, the effect on the public purse, and the issues revolving around giving money to companies that market cigarettes to Indonesian children and toddlers.

Oh, and it smells.

 

[Marter]

If you had/have kids at my age, would you flip out or just discuss with them your point of view on the matter and tell them in the end it is their choice, and they will suffer the future consequences?
I would have a very serious conversation about it, letting them know the consequences, as well as tell them they won't be doing it until they move out. They continue to do it, they can live somewhere else. I would hope my child would have more common sense than to start though.

 

[Frequen-Z]

So long as they know the risks, pay for it themselves, and don't do it in my house, they can do what they want.

Father =/= Dictator.

But it's still your child and you'd like that him/her lives a healthy life.

While health is obviously important, I'd rather they live a life where they felt free to do as they wish.

Having said that, I do understand all the points you make, they're just not how I'd do things.

I make plenty of mistakes, but they're mine to make and I'm all the better for having made them, I wouldn't take that from my kids.

Perhaps if I was a father I'd think different, I dunno.

 

[Queen Michael]

I'd tell them this: "Son, smoking is incredibly dangerous. Because if you ever smoke again, I'll kill you." Okay, so I wouldn't but I'd just straight-out command the kid to stop it. If s/he refused, I'd say "See? You are addicted! That's why you won't quit!"

 

[Ryank1908]

Depends on the age. 18 and above, they can do it if they want.

I'm 18, and I'm a smoker. I don't care about the health effects for personal reasons, which you can judge if you want. However I'd definitely do the most to tell my kids what smoking can do, how much it costs (they'd have to pay for it themselves, certainly) and how it makes you seem to others.

 

[The Procrastinated End]

I would just tell them that they were gonna have to buy them themselves and that it could cause health issues, because I'm kinda tired of the retarded anti-smoking crap.

 

[Ryank1908]

As my mother put it "If the worst your child does is smoke then you've done a good job."

Very, very well said...

 

[Rasputin1]

Some cigars taste really fucking awesome.

True that. Nicest cigar I ever tried was a Cafe Créme thing with vanilla in it. It was gorgeous.