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Talking to Your Kids About Smoking Text
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It’s never too early or too late to talk to your kids about tobacco. The following are tips designed to help parents talk to their kids:
 
Start early.
Age-appropriate discussions can happen as early as age six or seven. The 2003 Brant, Haldimand, Norfolk Student Health Survey found evidence of experimentation with tobacco as early as grade 5. Parents need to know that right now they have a one-in-five chance of having a child who will smoke, thus open discussions about the dangers of tobacco use needs to reach kids before they start smoking.
 
Stay relevant.
Adolescents need relevant reasons why smoking will not improve their life. Talk about the immediate impact of smoking on image, hair, teeth, breath, and their ability to perform well at sports or aerobic activities. Discussion about disease and life expectancy are lost on younger people at a time when age and vulnerability are not valid concerns.
 
Try a quick chemistry lesson.
Your child will probably be shocked to learn just what goes into a cigarette. Give them a tour of the garage, basement, or under the kitchen sink where you might find some of these chemicals – acetone (nail polish remover), toluene (paint thinner), benzene (gasoline), cadmium (batteries), phenol (disinfectant) – all of which are inhaled with each cigarette.
 
Provide strategies.
When you talk to your kids about not using tobacco, you can give them more than just good advice, you can give them a solid defense strategy to say “no”. Remember what kids often want are tips they can use to help them resist peer pressure. Try to help prepare them to say “no” before the situation arises. Suggest an option that may work for them like, “my girlfriend/boyfriend has a problem with kissing ashtrays, so I’ll pass” or create something new that works best for your child. Encourage your kids to visit stupid.ca to chat and learn from others their own age about issues involved with smoking.
 
What if you smoke yourself?
If you smoke it is even more important to talk to your children about the effects of smoking:
 
•  Talk about why you started and what you didn’t know.
•  Talk about what it is like to be addicted and how hard it is to quit.
•  Show that you think smoking is not healthy by smoking outside of your home and car,
    and away from your children.
 
Other helpful resources for parents:
 
 
 
 
 
 
To obtain a free copy of the resource
“Talk It Out – A Parent’s Guide to Kids and Smoking”,
call 753-4937 ext. 455
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Second-hand smoke contains toxic substances, over 67 of which cause cancer. Second hand smoke is harmful to everyone, but is especially dangerous for children. Second hand smoke is causally linked with a number of adverse health effects in children including, lower respiratory tract infections (i.e. croup, bronchitis and pneumonia).

The following tips will help keep your children from being exposed to secondhand smoke:
 
Make your home and car smoke-free.
Never smoke or allow passengers to smoke in your home or vehicle. Particulates and toxins found in tobacco smoke remain on surfaces and fabrics long after the cigarette is extinguished.
 
Remove your children from places where there are smokers.
It's the law for enclosed workplaces and public spaces to be smoke-free. Avoid using entrances where smokers congregate. Encourage businesses to implement policies for smoke free entrances.
 
Ask people not to smoke in your home.
Remove ashtrays from your home. Remember, air flows throughout a house, so smoke from one room travels throughout a home and the toxins linger in the air for days or weeks after.
 
 
Want to quit? Don’t know where to start?

Call the Brant County Health Unit’s Health Information Line at 753-4937 x259 and speak with a Public Health Nurse to obtain a variety of free resources to help you on your way to becoming smoke free!

Last Updated ( Monday, 12 January 2009 )