Smoking Around Children

Nikki - posted on 04/15/2010

I am a smoker, both mine and my husbands family are smokers........ BUT BY NO MEANS UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES EVER WILL I LET MY SON BE EXPOSED TO MY FILTHY HABIT. we smoke outside when we come in we wash our hands and brush our teeth we do not hild him until after that. just because I smoke doesnt mean my son needs to suffer. We do not take him to people's houses that they smoke inside and everyone fully understands if they want to smoke even when we are outside that they need to venture off away from him.... that story makes me sick

Shannon - posted on 04/14/2010

I was a smoker and at times a heavy smoker until I suspected and later confirmed I was pregnant with my son. I quite immediately! I battled with quitting more than once before I became pregnant and always started again until now. I keep him away for cigarettes and smoking to the extent of my control. I do not allow anyone to smoke in my house or car. Anyone in our life that is a smoker is wise enough to go outside or if we are outside already to stay as far away from my son as possible. I basically feel that if I quite for and because of my baby there is no reason every other woman can't too. I can not stand to see a woman holding her baby with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth! I was a the store a couple wks ago and saw 2 women get in a car with a small child in the backseat and they BOTH immediately lit up. I was disgusted! It is your choice to smoke that I do not have a problem with its your life your lungs but your baby doesn't have that choice you have to make it for him or her and it is very ignorant and selfish to expose your child to that. You have choices that allow you to smoke without making your baby breath it in! I also can not stomach seeing pregnant women smoke!! I find it very hard to keep my mouth shut about that and I have a couple friends that did it. There are enough things that can go wrong during pregnancy why add to the risks? and PS both my friends had premies....hmmmm

Kelly - posted on 04/13/2010

I think it's fine if parents smoke as long as they follow all of the appropriate precautions. It makes no sense to walk outside to smoke if you are going to come right back in covered in smoke molecules and pick up your baby--it will go right into their lungs! That is why it is so important to change clothes before coming back into the house where baby lives and shower after smoking before picking up a baby.

My husband smoked for 20 years, he is now quit for 3 years. He smoked the 1st 2 years of our son's life, but he was NEVER allowed to smoke in our home (I knew we would be having a child one day and I didn't want the residue in the house--it is impossible to get rid of!) He didn't smoke close to our house either, but I didn't mind if he wanted to smoke down by the mail box, about 50ft from the house.
He had a "smoking outfit" (tee, jeans and a jacket) which we kept in the garage. He wore it when he walked down the property to smoke b/c I didn't want the smoky residue it leaves on clothes to come into the house. We have a mud sink in the garage where he washed them every time he put them on to smoke. He also showered immediately upon entering the house (he did not wear the smoking outfit into the house, he kept a robe in the garage).
He never smoked in any of the cars our son rides in--we sold his old car before our son was born because he had smoked in it.

Personally, I think it's a lot of trouble to smoke as a parent, constantly changing clothes and showering all the time, but he did it and I guess a lot of parents do, but the trouble alone would probably be enough to make me quit! I can't really say though b/c I never smoked, but I saw how hard it was for my husband to quit--TONS of failed attempts, but he finally did it and I give BIG props to anyone who is able to stop smoking!

Lisamarie - posted on 04/13/2010

My mum and step dad both smoked when I was growing up, around us children, all of us in the lounge both mum and dad smoking, we hated it, we'd go to bed stinking of smoke. As we grew and the effects became more apparent to the doctors they cut back and my mum quit over 3 years ago and hasn't touched one since. I smoke, quit whilst pregnant. I have never smoked a cigarette around my children, I do not smoke in my house, if we are out as a family my hubby will watch the kids while I walk off for 5 minutes.

Although I smoke myself it really irritates me when I walk to our local hospital and because no one is allowed to smoke near the hospital itself EVERYONE smokes along te redways (paths by hosp.) so everytime we walk past we have to weave in and out of clouds of smoke before we get to the hospital! I made a complaint last time and haven't been since. I also stopped visiting my grandparents as they thought nothing of lighting their cigarettes in front of my children.

Erin - posted on 04/12/2010

I am a smoker. I quit while I was pregnant and it didn't even enter my mind not to. It was not a choice. For me, being pregnant took that decision out of my hands. I felt that if I couldn't sacrifice the cigarettes for the sake of my unborn daughter, what right did I have to be a parent?

Anyway, life happened and I started again when my daughter was 6 months old. She has NEVER seen a cigarette. I have never smoked inside anyway, and never smoke in front of her. One of my pet hates is seeing women pushing prams while smoking, or people smoking at children's birthday parties. I was at a 1st birthday party last year, and this couple stood in the middle of everyone and chain-smoked, while holding their 4 month old. Just the other day I saw a woman with a toddler on her hip and smoking. I wanted to smack her.

It is my choice to smoke, but I will not expose my daughter to that. I don't want her to think it's normal or okay, and am just waiting for the day she tells me to stop because it's bad for me. That will be the day I quit.

Charlie - posted on 04/12/2010

My grandmother died of lung cancer through second hand smoke from her partner , she never smoked a day in her life so it makes me sick when i see parents blatantly blowing smoke in the immediate vicinity of a child , their choice to smoke and do what they please with their bodies but dont force it onto others .

Sara - posted on 04/12/2010

I think there's no excuse to force your bad habit on your child/ren. I don't understand why people can't wrap their minds around the fact that second hand smoke is HARMFUL...but I suppose to smoke you have to be in some state of denial that you're killing yourself and taking yourself away from your children faster and faster.

Congrats on the quitting Jo. This year will be 4 years since I quit.

Sharon - posted on 04/12/2010

Oh ... try standing next to a woman who calls you her friend while she blathers on to two pregnant woman about how she smoked with all 4 pregnancies and none of her kids are sick... even though all her kids have learning disabilities, asthma, chronic respiratory issues... UGH. Disgusting pig. I'm so glad I was able to get away from her.

Chatty - posted on 04/12/2010

Ahhh....ya, that makes sense!

Kylie - posted on 04/12/2010

nah England and Spain

Chatty - posted on 04/12/2010

Kylie: ur talking about the US? Ya, I don't think the laws are nearly as strict as Canada either?!!

Kylie - posted on 04/12/2010

I think it's wrong to smoke around kids of any age whether they can walk away or not and especially with them in the car. Everyone with half a brain knows the dangers of second hand smoke but i guess they just don't give a shit. I'll never forget when i saw a old lady pushing a shopping trolley with a gorgeous little girl who looked about two and she was smoking and blowing the smoke in her face. It made me so angry i wanted to snatch the child out of the trolley.
My children receive lovely gifts from family in England but every time without fail the clothes stink.. no REEK like a dirty ashtray. I got a newborn package when Jack was born and i literally gagged when i opened it and they were the most gorgeous little outfits. It's sad because they have kids and one with a heart problem who has had more 6 operations in his short life and they must smoke inside or be smoking as they wrap the presents..i don't know but it's wrong..soo wrong.
My hubby said when he went over there he saw that practically everyone smokes and they smoke in restaurants, in between courses, with the kids as the table. He said no one cares.

Chatty - posted on 04/12/2010

Hmmmm......I hate to admit this but I'm craving a cigarette.....Ahhh! LOL!

Joanna - posted on 04/12/2010

I hate seeing people smoke around children. Most people have some common sense, like if I'm at the outdoor mall pushing the stroller and I walk by a smoker, most of the time they'll move the cigarette away, and I always thank them. But when I see a parent puffing away while pushing a stroller I get so crazy, or even worse, when I see them smoking in a car full of kids (with the windows up a lot of the time).

I was a smoker for 10 years (I quit when I was pregnant with my daughter, started again, and now it's been a little over 1 month since I've quit, it was hard to quit this time but I had to for my newest baby-to-be). So I know how hard it is to quit, and how taking care of kids sometimes makes you really crave one. But it's not that hard to wait until you get home, put the kid in bed, and run outside to have one if you really must., and even then it sticks to your clothes so the secondhand smoke is always there.

Kayle - posted on 04/12/2010

Right how hard is it to atleast step into another room?

Chatty - posted on 04/12/2010

WOW! Insane, Kayle! Good for you for leaving! She's right, it's her house but that is shocking to me! WOW! WOW! Family? Really? Crazy!

Kayle - posted on 04/12/2010

I think its horrible to smoke around a child who can not get up and leave the room/area. I have a rule that there is no smoking around my child but I'm surprised with some of the people in my fiances family. We went to visit an aunt out of town and asked her please do not smoke around Kamden. Two minutes later she lit up and told us "your not gonna tell me I can't smoke in my own house". I was infuriated. We left and stayed with his grandmother who is also a smoker but was courteous enough not to do it around our son. His aunt didn't believe that 2nd hand smoke harms people. I just can't believe their is people that ignorant out there.

Chatty - posted on 04/12/2010

I didn't necessarily plan to quit but when I ended up preggers I just had zero desire to smoke......it physically made me wanna vomit and I was equally surprised that once I had my daughter the desire never returned?! I consider myself extremely lucky!

My mom, Roxanne and I were entering a Walmart yesterday mornin and there was two elderly gentlemen standing blocking several of the doors under the awning, I'm assuming to shelter themselves from the wind. I nicely asked them if they could please smoke around the corner as it's illegal to smoke in front of door ways now and the looked at me like I was crazy! One of the gentlemen actually told me to, " QUIT BITCHING and FUCK OFF! If you don't like it go somewhere else! ".........ugh! The nerve......I felt like such a tattle tale but I immediately went inside to the service counter and complained to a manager that went outside and escorted them around the corner to the designated smoking area! HA!

Sorry, I just had to share that story! EVEN when I smoked I would NEVER smoke around children or anyone else that didn't smoke for that matter! I don't understand why their OWN mothers would be smoking with them only a few feet away?!

LaCi - posted on 04/12/2010

I smoke. I sneak outside to do it. Immediately come in and wash up, brush my teeth, so on. I hate smoking. I hate the consequences of not smoking. Smoking is my self medicating. When I get medicated professionally, I'll try to quit again and see if I have the same crazy side effect. My quit smoking experience was abnormal, to say the least. But I do not and will not smoke around my son, he's not allowed to witness it, I don't want him to smell it, and I hope he never remembers it.

Jenny - posted on 04/12/2010

I can't stand it. My 7 year old still has not been around smoke indoors. If we're outdoors I make sure she is well away from any smokers. Most of the smokers I know move away from kids of their own accord as it has become so socially unacceptable, at least where I live. You can't even smoke at a drive through window in your vehicle.

Krista - posted on 04/12/2010

I don't get it either. I used to smoke, and quit 7 years ago. But even when I was a heavy smoker, if I was at the bus stop and a woman with a child walked up, I would move so that I was downwind from them, and would blow my smoke away from the child. And those weren't even MY kids! So to blithely expose your OWN child to that...I just don't get it.

Johnny - posted on 04/12/2010

I can't understand it either Jo. I can't see how anyone could love their baby and expose them to such a horrible risk so directly. I don't think parents should smoke. At all. But even with the risks of 3rd hand smoke, I am a heck of a lot more understanding and compassionate for people that are terribly addicted to cigarettes, struggle with quitting, and avoid smoking around their children. But I've got absolutely no time, patience, respect, acceptance, or anything at all positive to say about people who smoke in front of their kids and particularly in confined spaces. That's like saying, "I want to give my baby lung cancer, emphysema, and asthma." Why the hell would any person with a heart do such a thing?

Mandy - posted on 04/12/2010

Good for you for quiting!!! I think it's so gross and sad for the babies and toddlers to HAVE to be around smoke. They didnt ask to be put there. I think if you have kids, it should be a LAW that you CANT smoke. Never gonna happen, but it would be so much better for EVERYONE'S health!!!