I get that what I’m saying sounds absolutist and simplistic. I get that there’s lots of influences on kids and peer pressure and whatnot.
But I’m also going by my own experience as a kid. You were a kid too once, yes?
My parents didn’t yell or scream or threaten. They explained. Even as a child I understood why smoking was bad and what damage it did to lungs. By the time I was old enough to consider smoking or have any opportunity to do so, I understood lung cancer, and addiction, and that it’s much easier to start something addictive than to stop. These things had been explained to me openly, without masking the ugliness of cancer or death or addiction.
So when I say TEACH your kids not to smoke, I mean that literally. Don’t preach at them or threaten them or yell at them, because it doesn’t work and kids tune it out. Don’t wait until they’re in middle school to show them the bad side of the world.
You are making up a story that fits what you believe. The other commenter is right, you dont have kids and its very apparent in how you write. Confidently having an opinion and then making up details to suit that opinion is a childish thing to do.
My parents didn’t yell or scream or threaten. They explained. Even as a child I understood why smoking was bad and what damage it did to lungs. By the time I was old enough to consider smoking or have any opportunity to do so, I understood lung cancer, and addiction, and that it’s much easier to start something addictive than to stop.
I also told all that stuff when I was kid, but don’t underestimate the power of youthful arrogance and the influence of an older girl who smokes and is interested in you… I ended up being a smoker for over ten years before I finally quit. Shared my own experiences with my daughter, educated her on all the reasons not to smoke. She still ended up vaping because of youthful arrogance and the influence of an older girl that was interested in her.
You can teach a horse to water but you can’t force it to not vape. Or something.
This right here. My parents explained in all the ways they could. I still ended up smoking. We’re a society and a society should have some responsibility to its kids. What happened to. The idea that it takes a village to raise a child? Some keep trying to heap all of the responsibility on parents when they’re just being asked to forego fruity flavored cancer.
Have you ever been to europe? I don’t think you have any appreciation for how successful the regulations in the US around nicotine addiction have worked.
I get that what I’m saying sounds absolutist and simplistic. I get that there’s lots of influences on kids and peer pressure and whatnot.
But I’m also going by my own experience as a kid. You were a kid too once, yes?
My parents didn’t yell or scream or threaten. They explained. Even as a child I understood why smoking was bad and what damage it did to lungs. By the time I was old enough to consider smoking or have any opportunity to do so, I understood lung cancer, and addiction, and that it’s much easier to start something addictive than to stop. These things had been explained to me openly, without masking the ugliness of cancer or death or addiction.
So when I say TEACH your kids not to smoke, I mean that literally. Don’t preach at them or threaten them or yell at them, because it doesn’t work and kids tune it out. Don’t wait until they’re in middle school to show them the bad side of the world.
You are making up a story that fits what you believe. The other commenter is right, you dont have kids and its very apparent in how you write. Confidently having an opinion and then making up details to suit that opinion is a childish thing to do.
I also told all that stuff when I was kid, but don’t underestimate the power of youthful arrogance and the influence of an older girl who smokes and is interested in you… I ended up being a smoker for over ten years before I finally quit. Shared my own experiences with my daughter, educated her on all the reasons not to smoke. She still ended up vaping because of youthful arrogance and the influence of an older girl that was interested in her.
You can teach a horse to water but you can’t force it to not vape. Or something.
This right here. My parents explained in all the ways they could. I still ended up smoking. We’re a society and a society should have some responsibility to its kids. What happened to. The idea that it takes a village to raise a child? Some keep trying to heap all of the responsibility on parents when they’re just being asked to forego fruity flavored cancer.
Have you ever been to europe? I don’t think you have any appreciation for how successful the regulations in the US around nicotine addiction have worked.