Preventing Adolescent Smoking Among Our Children
Many researches and studies have shown that smoking can kill. It is with this thought that many parents wish their children not to acquire the nasty habit of smoking. Since smoking is an addiction many smokers start their smoking as adolescent smoking. Many factors have been attributed to the increase of adolescent smoking recently.
Factors of Adolescent Smoking
Adolescent smoking is often attributed to peer pressure and bad role models. Many people would agree that these two are among the leading causes of adolescent smoking. Peer pressure can be difficult for young people to handle and they often give in to adolescent smoking just to fit in or to be noticed. Having bad role models to look up to is also one reason why violence is prevalent among young people.
There are several ways to guide your children to avoid adolescent smoking and among these is to be open with your children and encourage them to open up to you the parents. Being able to freely talk to their parents can build confidence in children.
It also lessens the urge to rebel which can be quite strong during the teenage years. Often, it is in the way that parents talk down to their children instead of talking with them that provokes he rebel in them.
Children will also benefit from knowing the awful truth about smoking and the effects that adolescent smoking can have on their future. Talking to them and explaining about the hazards of smoking can open their eyes and make them scared to try adolescent smoking.
It is good to protect them sometimes but there are times that protecting our children would mean they should be aware of the truth. Making them aware that they have a choice to be healthy and not sick due to adolescent smoking can make them resist smoking.
Encouraging sports and other outdoor activities that enable them to be healthy and strong can also curb adolescent smoking among our children. Giving them something to do with their family and close friends will give them little time to try out smoking. It would also be a good idea to support your child and build up her confidence to enable her to stand up to peer pressure.
Adolescent smoking should be discouraged because the younger children and adults have developing bodies which may not develop as well as those who do not smoke. Children are also very susceptible to sicknesses and other ailments that may be caused by smoking.
