Smoking | Parenting Teens Blog

October 17, 2010

Teens Dealing with Secondhand Smoke

There are two sources of secondhand smoke, the smoke that comes from other smokers, the smoke they exhale and the smoke that comes from the end of the cigarette. The first one is called mainstream smoke and the second one is called sidestream smoke.

Although most teens think that secondhand smoke is harmless and also media propaganda used to lower the number of smokers and a way to influence them that is not the case. Secondhand smoke is really dangerous, as dangerous as smoking itself. Secondhand smoke contains various dangerous chemicals like ammonia, arsenic and even hydrogen cyanide, they are all toxic and all of them are related to cancer development.

Secondhand smoke can increase the risk of:

-    Bronchitis, pneumonia and other respiratory infections
-    Asthma, it can lead to development of asthma and can trigger dangerous attacks in people with asthma
-    Sore throat
-    Sneezing and sniffing
-    Coughing
-    Heart disease
-    And cancer

Like you can see these aren’t just effects that may occur after a few years, secondhand smoke has immediate effects on our health. Each one of us knows a smoker, that’s either a friend, or a family member or even a coworker when we get older. It’s impossible to isolate yourself completely from secondhand smoke, and that is the problem as even a short exposure can have an influence on our body, and that especially goes for teens and kids as they are still developing.

The same goes if you are a smoker, you are not only hurting yourself, making your health bad, having a smoker smell and wasting money, you are also putting other people in danger, which should be a great motivating to help you quit smoking. Just consider how much good it will do for your health, your wallet and your friends and family’s health if you quit smoking.

There are a few things that you can ask from the smokers you know in order to avoid secondhand smoke. The first and the most basic thing you can do is to ask them to smoke outside and as far away from you and other people. Even greater risks of secondhand smoke come to small children and pregnant women, so if you have some around there is no way you should let someone smoke near them. Also, ask them to wash their hands after smoking before they touch you, your little brother and sister and anyone else. That is even more important if you are in a car with a smoker, either ask him to not smoke while you are in the vehicle or don’t go for that ride.

Fortunately there are plenty of new laws that help us avoid secondhand smoke, but the bottom line is that your friends and family who smoke should understand and respect your health and keep their smoke away from you. If you let them know your concerns they should respect them. Not just that, it may also help them reconsider their unhealthy habit and even quit smoking in order to avoid jeopardizing your health as well.

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October 15, 2010

Teen Substance Abuse – Teen Tobacco Abuse

Filed under: smoking,Teen Drug Abuse — Tags: parenting teens, smoking abuse, teen drug abuse, teen nicotine abuse, teen smoking, teen substance abuse, teen tobacco abuse — admin @ 3:01 pm

We all know that there is a teen smoking problem in the US and the entire world. It’s cool to smoke, teens love it even more because it’s forbidden, and peer pressure plays a great role. We all know that, teens know that after all the education about tobacco and nicotine and harmful effects of smoking they have received, but it seems like none of that matter. Teens still smoke, and we are yet to find a way to change that trend.

The main issue about smoking is the nicotine addiction and the harmful effects that nicotine has on our bodies. Nicotine is one of the most addictive known substances today, and it is the number one cause of disease in the US, also a leading cause of death in the United States.

If we look at the statistics we will see that over 90% of lung cancer in the US is direct cause of smoking, and almost 40,000 people die each year from secondhand smoke. But the fact that nicotine is so harmful and dangerous and that it is illegal in all states for teens under 18 and in some states for those under 19 seem to have no effect on our teenagers.

We know that nicotine is a highly addictive substance; tar increases everyday chances of lung cancer and bronchial disorders as well as emphysema. The chance of getting one of many cardiovascular diseases increases tenfold because of the carbon monoxide.

Smoking while pregnant is extremely harmful for the mothers and for the baby’s health; there is a great risk of miscarriage and even low birthweight for the newly born babies. Secondhand smoke we experience every day not only causes great chances of contracting a lung disease and lung cancer, but it also increases the risks of respiratory illnesses, especially with children.

We can all agree that cigarettes are bad for our health and the health of those around us. And it is even more harmful if the ones smoking are teens that are still developing as nicotine and other harmful substances found in cigarettes can influence their development and harm their health permanently.

Teen smoking is an issue, and it will be until all of us raise our children from an early age and teach them not to smoke, but the only way we can expect some success with this method is if we lead by example. Parents smokers can’t teach their children not to smoke, it will be contra productive, While it is known that one out of ten teens with non smoking parents will become a smoker, a far less percentage than with parents that smoke.

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September 30, 2010

Preventing Teen Smoking

Filed under: smoking — Tags: parenting teens, Preventing Teen Smoking, teen smoking, teen smoking prevention, teenage smokers — admin @ 9:13 pm

Since 1998 the US started investing plenty of money on anti-smoking campaigns. Until 2003 the campaigns showed great success lowering the number of smokers by great numbers. The best result was seen in teen smokers. But since 2003 the US decreased the funding of anti-smoking campaigns and teens developed tolerance to these campaigns and the number of teen smokers started to rise once again.

Most teens are not well informed or don’t understand the effects that smoking has on their health. Nicotine found in tobacco is one of the most addictive substances in the world, 4 out of 5 teens that try tobacco will start smoking. The reasons why teenagers start smoking are plenty, one of the biggest reasons is because they saw it from their parents. So if you don’t want your teens to smoke you should lead by example. Another well known reason is peer pressure.

There are several ways you can make your teen learn the responsibilities of smoking and the bad effects that smoking leaves on their health, if you catch your teen smoking there are a few interesting things you can do like telling him to do his own laundry. Of course there are several aspects that help our teens quit smoking or never start to smoke.

Raising taxes on cigarettes has proved to be a success, as most kids can’t afford to purchase cigarettes. But besides state laws and media campaigns there is school education that proved to be very successful in educating teens about the bad effects of smoking and also helping teens to quit smoking. Of course one of the most successful methods of getting teens aware of the bad effects that smoking causes are confrontation shows and guest speakers.

A very small number of teens are aware of the risks that teen smoking causes on their growth, which is hard to believe considering the funds invested in teen education and anti-smoking campaigns. Teens seem to have developed blindness towards those types of campaigns over the years. Our body is so addicted to nicotine that it shows signs of relapse in the first few minutes of the last cigarette, which can also be seen as benefits of giving up smoking:

-    After half an hour from the last cigarette our blood pressure decreases, our pulse rate drops and our body temperature increases.
-    After 8 hours carbon monoxide levels return to normal as well as the levels of oxygen in our blood.
-    After 24 hours the chances of having a heart attack decrease significantly
-    And after 48 hours our nerve endings start to grow again and our ability to taste and smell improves

The bottom line is that education about smoking needs to start at home, you need to explain to your kids the bad effects that smoking has on their health. You deal with your smoking issues at home and the state will deal with it on the global level. The fact that most parents turn a blind eye is the biggest problem in this issue.

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May 28, 2010

Teen Smokers, Easy Starters Hard Quitters

Filed under: smoking — Tags: anti smoking campaigns, Easy Starters Hard Quitters, parenting teens, parenting teens blog, smoking, smoking campaigns, teen smokers — admin @ 1:21 pm

Smoking has become more than just a need of one person to satisfy the desire for a cigarette or feeding his nicotine addiction. For decades now smoking is considered as a social action, people get together in a designated smoking area and they see the rest of the world as intruders. They go to whoever has the lighter like he is a king, but that is all for adults, what about teen smokers? Their look on things hasn’t changed a bit, they still think cigarettes are cool, they still find the appeal in hiding and getting attention, both from parents and their peers. It’s very easy for a teenager to start smoking.

Five or six years back we all felt relieved when the statistics showed a large decrease in teenage smoking, the credits for that went to anti smoking campaigns. But it seems that they were short termed, in 2004 around 25% of teenagers were smokers, which was a decrease compared to 1997 when over 34% of teenagers used to smoke. In 2009, statistics show that almost 40% of teenagers ages 13 to 17 are smokers, so what happened.

Nothing happened, that is the problem. Pure pressure never used to work on a teenager; we all know that, we were all teenagers years or decades back. Pure pressure and some anti smoking campaigns and commercials are not enough. Kids see cigarettes as something appealing and attractive and they go for them, it is easy as one, two, three and they are already addicted. I don’t want to judge anyone, I don’t know much about prevention of that sort; and I’m sure there are plenty of people trying to solve that problem and they are doing their best. So since I can’t help with that, I can help with getting rid of that addiction. Which is not easy, the methods are easy but the process can be long and tiring.

I’m sorry to say there isn’t a simple cure, but there is only one way, you have to want to stop. It might take a long time, you might go through several relapses, but if you truly want to quit smoking you can make it happen. You have to forget about cigarette substitutes, most of them are even more harmful than cigarettes. The best chance you have along with the will to stop is to have a motive, something that will stimulate your desire to stop smoking even more. Once you get those two there are several ways for you to go, each person has its own buttons to press; you have to figure them out for yourself. You might be able to quit cold turkey or you may take it one step at a time, but the best bet is to seek some counseling, especially if you are a teenager. Getting heard and having someone that understands what you are going through by your side is the best sort of help anyone can get in any similar situation. Smoking is very easy to start, but very hard to stop, so do what you have to and find the strength to stop, after all, nobody forced you to start smoking, you had the strength for that, now you have to walk the hard part. But trust me, it’s worth it, you will start feeling alive after the first week.

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November 3, 2009

World’s Strictest Parents

Filed under: addiction,ADHD,adolescents,drinking,Parent Support Groups,parenting teens,smoking,Teen Depression,Teen Drug Abuse,Teen Health,Teen Help,Teen Pregnancy,teen safety,teen sex,violence — Tags: ADD, ADHD, avoiding teen pregnancy, drugs, family, Parent Support Groups, parents, Teen Depression, teen drug use, Teen Pregnancy, teenagers, World's Strictest Parents — admin @ 11:09 am

Mom and Dad struggling with their sons behavior

The World’s Strictest Parents is a television series conceptualized and brought into fruition by Twenty Twenty Television and was originally broadcasted by BBC. The United States’ Country Music Television (CMT) and Australia’s Channel Seven both came up with their local versions of the hit TV series.

The primary concept behind the show is that two “unruly” teenagers are sent packing by their parents to live overseas with a strict host family for an entire week in an attempt to modify their heedless behavior. During the week they would receive an impact letter from their birth parents with a list of issues that they should try to correct.

In the United States, it takes on the format of a reality TV show with a running time of one hour. It was originally slated to be aired by MTV and the pilot episode was broadcasted on April 18, 2009. CMT eventually took over the show which is currently on its second season. Unlike the original series, the teenagers remained in their country and their parents came for them to evaluate their stay with the host family. In Britain, two teens leave their own family each week and lives for ten days under the roofs and rules of some of the World’s Strictest Parents. The series ventured on different locations – from Accra to Alabama, from Jaipur to Jamaica, unruly teenage Brits have experienced the discipline, educational values and uncompromising strictness of parents who have embraced the notion that enforcing firm discipline is the only way to raise a well-rounded teenager.

In the U.S., CMT features the remarkable journey of two unruly teens from different families as they are compelled to conform to the rules and regulations of their strict host parents. As they experience to live under different standards away from their own families, the ill-behaved teens will be subjected to punishment for skipping chores and breaking rules while the strict host parents try to fix their behavior.

The series tries to impart that rearing teenagers and enforcing traditional rules is no easy task. However, over time learning to live with certain limitations and enforced consequences will develop unique emotional journeys and personal turnarounds in teen behavior. Spending some time away from home enables the teenagers to reflect on how badly they treat their parents. The teenagers go through a roller-coaster of emotions and realizations – from culture shock to personal enrichment, from flare-ups and outbursts to heartrending re-unions, the teenagers experience what it’s like to live with strict rules and firm discipline – and learn to feel and appreciate the benefits.

For the second season, an all-new episode of the World’s Strictest Parents premiered on October 10 at 8:00 p.m. The regular timeslot is Saturdays at 8:00 to 9:00 p.m., ET/PT.

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