How to Talk to Your Kids about a Tobacco Habit.

By: Thomas Hunter

Smoking during one’s teenage years is one of the easiest times to become addicted to smoking. The media, peer pressure, lack of knowledge, as well as other factors all are given as messages to teenagers to begin smoking. This causes them to move towards developing a bad habit out of smoking. As a parent, it is important to have tools which will move against what is being seen about smoking. By giving them alternative ideals that move away from smoking, you will be giving them an alternative answer to developing a bad habit. There are several different types of tools that you can use in order to help your teen to never stop smoking.

The best preventative measures that you can take as a parent is to have the knowledge available to give to your teen about smoking. This will allow them to make a conscious decision about what smoking does and causes. By talking to them about this bad habit, they will be less likely to fall into the peer pressure of smoking.

One of the things that you can tell a teen which will help to prevent them from smoking is to let them know what cigarettes are made of and what chemicals they are inhaling. Tar is one of the chemicals that are used for cigarettes. Another type of chemical used in cigarettes is hydrogen cyanide. This is the same chemical that is used to kill rats and was used during World War II to help with the mass killings that were taking place. Benzene, a chemical used for gasoline, is also in cigarettes. Acetone, a nail polish remover is another chemical that is dominant in cigarettes. Nicotine, which is the chemical that causes the addiction of tobacco, is also in cigarettes. If you tell your teens what they are inhaling, it may help in preventing the temptations of beginning to smoke by peers.

Another strategy that can be used with knowledge to help your teenagers to stay away from smoking is to be direct about what smoking can do to their health. Being direct about facts that include death rates and smoke related illnesses will help your children to recognize the down-falls of smoking. Lung cancer, statistics on deaths from smoking, and health related issues that are concerned with smoking can all be used as tools to help your teenagers see the other side of what tobacco can cause.

Being a youth is a time where self-image and self-esteem begin to develop. This has caused tobacco use among teenagers to be an easy means for getting youth addicted to smoking. Teenagers will look at media images, which portray smoking as acceptable. They will then see this reflected through peer groups. Often times’ youth will begin to smoke because of what they see through the environment around them. You can easily move them away from these images by helping teens to develop their own self-image and confidence. By contradicting this image with allowing them to see their own self-confidence and move away from the idea of what smoking means as portrayed by others, it will be easier for them to say no.

One of the major reasons why teenagers begin to smoke is because of the peer pressure that is consistently around them to try smoking. Because of this, you should think of effective methods to go against the peer pressure around them. For example, you can help your teenager to stay away from smoking as a habit by practicing situations and scenarios with them that will allow them to learn to say no and build their self-image. Role playing and discussing different ways for them to overcome peer pressure will help your teenager to learn an alternative method to being pressured into smoking.

As the different portrayals are seen in society about smoking, more teenagers and children are beginning to pick up the habit. The average age for one to begin smoking is by the age of eleven, and several are addicted by the age of fourteen. By understanding the situation that your child is in, and responding to this with knowledge and building of self-image and confidence, you will know that you have helped to give an alternative solution to prevent your child from forming a bad habit.


Wake Up Richer Every Morning... Instant Internet Business Makes Money Automatically... Thomas Hunter is an Internet marketer, author and publisher and has helped hundreds of people become successful Niche Marketers. Explore the highly profitable world of Niche Marketing at http://SixFigureNiches.com our popular website.
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