NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665

October 15, 1998

Parent Line: Growing Up in Smoke

Kim Bushaw, Parent Line Program Specialist
NDSU Extension Service

When our oldest was about 3, we got the first inkling that our smoke-free living was having an impact on him. We were decorating for Christmas when "The Night Before Christmas" book appeared from one of the many boxes of holiday trimmings and keepsakes. Naturally we read it a number of times in the next month or two. It was probably the several hundredth time we had gone through it when our little boy pointed to a picture of Santa and, nearly heartbroken, exclaimed, "Oh no, Santa is smoking." He slammed the book shut and told everyone he came in contact with about this discovery. Sure enough, in our copy, Santa had a pipe on the page where it said "The smoke encircled his head like a wreath."

The American Heart Association suggests starting young to teach children about the consequences of smoking. The organization claims that children ages 11-14 are likely candidates to face pressures to use tobacco. In a country where about 3,000 young people start smoking every day, it's never too early to begin contradicting the advertisements picturing young, healthy, athletic-looking people with cigarettes in hand. This age usually starts to smoke because of peer pressure. Be sure to have plenty of healthy activities and structure the free time of these young adolescents.

Most parents, including those who smoke, want their children to be tobacco-free. Since being a regular smoker can cut 6.6 to 15 years from a person's life, it seems like a conversation worth having again and again in small bits as the child grows.

Parents who do smoke have a greater chance of raising children who will smoke. When parents quit, kids often do too. These parents can still prohibit smoking in their homes and make it a point to not smoke around their children. They can tell their children how they got hooked, and if they regret starting, they can talk about that too.

Let's start from the beginning. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that mothers who smoke during pregnancy and into their baby's infancy greatly increase their child's risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Pneumonia, bronchitis and asthma are also more common in young children who live in a house where someone smokes. The other outcome, of course, is that the children themselves may learn to use tobacco products by being around and allowed to play with cigarettes, lighters, ashtrays and matches. When children are babies, parents can quit smoking or at least smoke where the child can't see or inhale smoke. They can prohibit others from smoking in their home and keep all smoking implements out of baby's sight and reach.

Preschool children copy what they see to test out a behavior. Many a child has dipped one end of a french fry in ketchup and taken a drag off the other end, just like Uncle Bill or Aunt Sue. This gives parents the perfect opportunity to talk about smoking with their children. Other times to talk about the dangers of smoking might include when driving past a billboard or viewing a magazine ad that depicts people using tobacco products. When we don't address a subject out loud with our children, they may be misled into taking the silence as acceptance. If it is your feeling that you don't want your children using tobacco, tell them. "I don't want you to use any tobacco products, smoking or chewing." The message couldn't get any clearer.

Most parents realize that the opportunity for their teens to smoke or use smokeless tobacco is close at hand. Teens might try smoking out of curiosity, because of peer pressure, to rebel against their parents wishes, out of boredom or to feel like an adult. Talking to teens about the health risks may have little impact since they are at an age where they feel nothing bad can ever happen to them. Discussing actual outcomes and consequences might be more effective. Smoky breath, clothing and hair; yellow fingers; and less physical stamina for sports along with logical disincentives for smoking will mean a great deal more to the teen.

I'm a little torn between looking for a nonsmoking version of "The Night Before Christmas" or using the old copy as an opportunity to talk to other little children about this important topic.

###

More than 100 Parent Line columns are in the book "Please Tell Me This is Just a Stage." To order, send $9.95 per copy to Distribution Center, Box 5655, NDSU, Fargo, ND 58105-5655.

Kim Bushaw answers the Parent Line, an information and listening support line for North Dakota parents from the NDSU Extension Service. Call the Parent Line at 1-800-258-0808 (231-7923 in Fargo) with questions about this column and other parenting topics. The Parent Line is answered 7:30 a.m. - 9:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Friday.

Source: Kim Bushaw (701) 231-1070

Editor: Becky Koch (701) 231-7875