I think to fully put a stop to this addiction we first need to understand how this happens. If we stop people smoking then the crisis will be smaller. The truth is it happens because of various reasons. A major factor is having someone in the house who smokes. The longer you see someone smoke that us close to you the more likely you are to begin. Some children or teens may also feel that smoking makes them appear more sophisticat . Not just to adults but peers allowing them to fit in. It allows them to show adults that they are independant. Often teens idolize actors, singers and people in the media. This also can lead to copying them. Finally children and teens are just curious.
Exposure [to cigarettes], in all it's forms is what gets kids to smoke. More importantly though parents must remember that no matter what they do, sooner or later their kids will meet friends who may lead them astray. That's why parents need to be close enough to their children to earn all their trust. In case any of their [kids] friends try to get them to do something, they'll first first find out what their parents think about it. Good parenting in addition to being a good role model to kids can help keep kids away from cigarettes.
I agree that those things are important, and may be the best that we can do to deter our children from destructive behavior. But the fact is that even great families with great values can produce rebellious kids. I guess we can only do our best, and hope for the best.
I I completely agree with you! I smoked my first cigarettes when I was 12. It was stolen from my mother who had smoked for my entire life. I thought it made me look mature and super cool. Now it's 20 years later and I have a nasty addiction that I can't seem to shake. I would love to quit.
I really think that the majority of kids drink just because they think that it looks cool, or they get peer pressured into doing it and then that leads to an addiction. I don't think kids are thinking "oh gosh, I need to get something to lessen my stress" and pick up a cigg.
I think that it is all out of a toxic mixture of curiosity, peer pressure and simply for the image of the whole scene behind smoking and drinking. I would say that it is all for the exact same reasons that fully grown adults smoke and drink. We never really grow up, now, do we?
Children normally smoke out of peer pressure but mostly when they observe their parents or guardians smoking in their presence. A kid may view his father or elder brother with high self esteem such that when they observe them smoking , they think it's okay to do the same.
It also goes the other way, as well. Some kids absolutely hate the way that their house smells and absolutely hate the fact that their parents smoke, so they never pick up cigarettes ever. I have known a lot of kids that are like that rather than the other way.
It's normally peer pressure that gets kids to smoke. For instance, if a kid is hanging out with his or her friends and they're all smoking, he/she will do it simply to assimilate into the group. Once they take that first drag, they're hooked. It's mostly will of mind that prevents kids from picking up a smoke more than anything else. I lived in China, where kids and young men and women were smoking all the time, and resisting taking that first drag was pretty hard.
I think a lot of it is to do with peer pressure too. Not necessarily the desire to look good, more the desire to fit in. Of course, it is also "naughty" and therefore much more attractive to teens!
Modern day habits. Kids these days see smoking and drinking everywhere, so they think it's all right and harmless. Also, the entourage the children is can be quite influential. In my early days, I've rejected every cigarette that has been offered to me and I still rock this policy.
I actually just saw a statistic that teenage smoking in the United States is at an all time low. Thought I would share it on this thread because it fits. I was quite surprised.
I smoke when I was around a teenager a long time ago. In the earlier days, I think kids smoke for sincere reasons such as depression and to relieve mental pain, but nowadays, I think kids smoke just to be known as the cool one and to fit in.
My soon to be husband grew up in a house where both of his parents smoked, they did it for years inside the house. He then turned 21 and found a pack of cigarettes and that is how he started smoking. Not 100% sure that is how everything started for him, but I guess that didn't help at all. I think that first cigarette sealed his faith.
It's the same as any other drug I would imagine. You try it to see if you like it, once you realize that you do you keep on smoking it.
Peer pressure, a need to be "cool," bad examples set by adults, etc. There's not really a single reason for anything, especially when it comes to teenagers. I think the only ones who can prevent them from starting are the parents. If they've made it clear that smoking is neither acceptable nor healthy, and the child has a good relationship with them, they'll be more likely to listen.
This makes me think back to when I was a little girl. My cousin and I basically snuck and lit up a cigarette we got off of the grown. I can remember this like it was yesterday. We then got all choked up. I mean this could have easily turned into an addition. I think we were just children getting into stuff we had no business doing. Children sometimes do what they see grown people do out of curiousity.
Yes, I think public figures who smoke play a huge role in pushing kids to smoke. Kids are in need to find somebody to look up to. If they cannot find that in their parents, they will turn into public figures and even fictional characters. Unfortunately, smoking is depicted as cool in the media and that is why kids will look up to smokers. There is very little things that parents can do to prevent that from happening. The best thing that parents can do is to feed their thoughts with more positive things so that they won't think smoking is cool.
I know for me, I started smoking at an early age because all my other friends smoked and I wanted to fit in. That's plain and simply it, as time went on, the more I smoked so of course the more I got addicted, and I've smoked ever since.