Fighting Teen Smoking

As children reach their teen years, there are certain activities that they are prone to trying as they grow more independent of their parents. Even though they have been taught that smoking is dangerous to their health, they will often try it to feel more grown up, or in response to the peer pressure around them. Teen smoking is a serious issue, as many adults that are addicted to smoking claim to have started when they were in their teen years. The teen smoking developed into a lifelong habit that they find very difficult to quit after years of participating in it and the physical and psychological addiction is firmly in place. There are different programs that help parents to learn how to deal with teen smoking and to equip their children to cope with the peer pressures that they will face during their school careers.

There are some teen smoking issues that come up because the parents smoke. It is difficult to tell a teen not to smoke when one or both of the parents smoke regularly or even at social occasions. The most important aspect of teaching teens not to smoke is to keep the avenues of communication open between the teens and the parents. Even if the parents smoke, they can share the things that affect their health because of smoking and also why it is so difficult for them to stop. Having a teenager who is considering smoking or is starting to smoke can be a reason for the parents to take a serious look at quitting themselves to set an example for their children.

There are also reasons that parents can give their teens who are considering smoking showing them why they should not do it. They can point out that smoking gives them bad breath which will not make them very attractive to friends or to the opposite sex. They can also point out how smoking makes every thing around them smell, such as clothing and cars. Teen smokers will not want to have their complexions marred or have their fingernails or teeth turn yellow, and this can also be a deterrent to them from smoking. For those teens who play sports, pointing out the way that smoking reduces lung capacity and affects their ability to play their favorite sport can also help to deter them from choosing to smoke. There is also the fact that smoking takes a lot of money to support, especially if it becomes a habit. Teen smokers often do not have that kind of cash laying around, with the majority of their earned income going towards gas and entertainment of other sorts.