Encouraging Your Teenager to Embrace a Smoke-Free Lifestyle

It is important that you remember that how you live your own life and what you say speaks volumes to your children, whether they be teens or preteens. Practicing what you preach is a lesson that everyone needs to perfect.

Consider this- studies have shown that teenagers are more likely to start smoking if they are growing up in a household with parents who smoke. This is because to them smoking is the norm.

They are also more likely to become heavy smokers at an early age. When parents give up smoking it is less likely that their children will start in the first place. In the same way, if parents quit and the child already smokes, then there is an added incentive to quit. This can be an excellent motivator and object lesson in being steadfast.

If you smoke and are making the effort to give it up then good for you. Go one step further and use this as a valuable opportunity to teach your teens. Share with them the difficulties that you are having in ending the habit. Let them know that starting is easy but quitting is an uphill battle, albeit an uphill battle that you are strong enough to triumph over!

A tremendous amount of young people greatly underestimate this reality about smoking. You are sending a very strong message about being smoke-free when you let your children know that it is a struggle to give up smoking but it is worth it for the sake of the future that awaits them.

The facts about teenagers and smoking are hard to swallow but they do not lie. Here
are some that are worth hearing:

- Every single day in the U.S. more than 3,500 kids pick up a cigarette and try smoking for the first time.
- An estimated 1,000 of kids under the age of 18 who try smoking will enjoy the experience so much that they will become daily smokers.
- The percentage of high school students who are regular smokers by the time they graduate from high school is 20.4 percent.
- Adult smokers are very likely to start smoking in their teenage years. This is the case for 90 percent of those who smoke in their adult life. Of these 90 percent, 2/3 began smoking regularly before they were 19 years of age.

As if these facts were not distressing enough, consider these:

- Across the globe as many as five million children will die prematurely as a direct result of illnesses that are connected to smoking.
- Approximately 1/3 of all smokers who are teenagers will die prematurely from diseases that are linked to smoking.
- Cigarette manufacturers know that teenagers are impressionable and it is this demographic to which they cater to. In fact an estimated $36 million is put towards encouraging teenagers to light up- on a daily basis!

You may think that as a parent you can do nothing to stop your child from smoking but that is not the case at all. You can do plenty.

As a parent you can act as a positive role model which means that you exert an important influence over your child's behavior and attitudes when it comes to smoking. As a parent, how you act and what you say has an impact on whether your child decides to light up or not.

Studies have borne out this truth of positive parental influence. They have found that the actions, attitudes and opinions of parents regarding smoking are transferred onto their children. Your children are paying attention to the messages that are coming their way whether you believe it or not. This is the case whether you send out subtle messages or messages that are loud and clear (or both kinds!).

The important point is that to help your child to remain smoke-free you have to make the message come through loud and clear that you do not approve of smoking. This message starts with you. If you smoke then you owe it to yourself and your children to give it up so you will convey the right message which is that smoke-free is the healthy way! Practice what you preach parents- every day and in every way!

It is a known fact that when parents restrict smokers to smoke in designated areas of a home or to go outdoors to smoke, children living in the home take notice of this. They also notice when their parents do everything they can to avoid having to deal with cigarette smoke such as requesting to be seated in the non-smoking section at restaurants. These are not things that simply slide by your kids. They know what is going on.

What then are other things you can do as parents to communicate the smoke-free message to your preteens and teenagers? The answer is that you can do many things to make sure that smoking never has a chance to gain a foothold in your child's life.

Start by having a smoke-free home. Even if you are presently a smoker you can still do everything possible to have a home that is smoke-free for your children and the rest of the family. What this means is that no one is permitted to smoke in your home. If they come over and want to smoke then they must take it outside.

By refusing to let anyone light up in your home you make it more difficult for your teen to smoke and you also send the message that smoking is not a desirable behavior. Do not allow it to be a permissible activity in your home. Even your very young children will pick up on these things before too long.

There is no substitute for proper education when it comes to smoking. Provide your children with all of the facts about smoking. Let them know what smoking does to the lungs, the heart and the body in general. To help your kids remain smoke-free let them know all of the pertinent information.

Do not scare them but give them the facts as they are. This will allow them to develop a negative opinion toward smoking and the mystique that sometimes surrounds smoking for young people will disappear.

Most importantly, it should go a long way in deterring them from wanting to become smokers themselves.

Elaborating on the point that was just made, make sure you let your child know that smoking can start to adversely affect them right from the start. Many kids believe that smoking has no short-term effects but just long-term effects that will take many, many years to become evident.

You know this is not the case so tell your child this. Emphasize that if they believe that then they are working under a wrong assumption.

Tell your children that smoking will bring about a persistent cough, a greater susceptibility toward illnesses and breathing problems. It will also cause a reduced ability to participate in many types of exercises and team sports and problems with healing could also result.

Keep the lines of communication open and make sure that it goes both ways. To help your kids to remain smoke-free you need to talk openly and honestly about smoking. Even if you think your kids are not listening, talk to them and be open to any questions that they may have regarding anything that has to do with smoking.

Even if it seems trivial to you, answer their questions and be as forthcoming as possible. This is all crucial in terms of their decision to become a smoker or not.

Remember that we have already learned that the attitudes, feelings and opinions of mom and dad DO make a difference and they do count for a great deal. They do parents! Never forget this.

Let your children know that you will not approve of them smoking and it will disappoint you if they start. For some children the thought of disappointing their parents is enough to say no when they day of being offered a cigarette comes around.

All kids want to fit in with their peers and they want to be as cool as possible. Cigarette manufacturers know this so they do everything possible to glamorize smoking and to make it seem like it is an activity that popular kids in the right cliques engage in.

As an adult you know all about these marketing ploys but your kids are not immune to such sneaky campaign manoeuvrings.

One thing you can appeal to is your teenager's vanity because let's face it, teenagers care about what they look like. Use this to your advantage. Let your teen know that while smoking may seem sexy or desirable, it is most definitely not an appearance pleaser!

You might want to contrast an adult your child knows who does not smoke with a person of the same age who does smoke to demonstrate the difference in what smoking does to one's appearance.

Emphasize to your child that smokers eventually develop yellowish brown fingers and fingernails. Tell them that pearly whites and smoking do not mix. Tell them about smoker's breath and the fact that smoke will cling to their hair and their clothing. Make sure you mention how lines and wrinkles can become permanently etched on the faces of smokers' years ahead of non-smokers!

Parents you must be vigilant in your efforts to help your teens remain smoke-free, both now and into their future. Be there in all ways possible to offer encouragement, suggestions, ideas, opinions and food for thought. Be your child's number one advocate for a life that is blessedly smoke free.