My daughter's friends are all smoking!
Q. My 14 year old daughter tells me that most of her friends have started smoking, though she claims she has not. Is there any way I can help her resist the trend?
A. As a parent it is essential that you encourage a healthy lifestyle and not just say it, but live it too! Healthy living, good food and exercise must be part of your life and not just your daughter’s. This may mean doing an activity together such as an exercise class, and one which promotes the ‘body as a temple’ is an excellent idea.
If your daughter is smoking (or just trying it out with her friends), there are signs to look out for: an increased need for pocket money, chewing gum or mints after she has been with her friends, opening her bedroom window without being asked – these are all classic signs.
Use the school too! Ring the school and find out what their advice is on smoking and when do they give it. If you feel confident and comfortable with the staff member who you are telling, and you should, tell them your concerns and ask them to investigate.
Obviously all teenagers will experiment with anything new and different; as parents and teachers we should be confident that the messages we have given them up to this point will have been heard and in the end they will make the right choice.
This article was written by Louise Robinson on 17/05/2010
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My daughter was always very anti smoking from a young age. Once she started socialising however, and all her friends smoked, she has started smoking too. The response is ‘it’s cool’. She is 17. She smokes socially, never smokes at home or at school, but only when she goes out. This makes her think she is not ‘addicted’. Being an ex-smoker myself, having started at the same age, I know just how easy it is to form an addiction. We have had horrible experiences with lung cancer in the family, our friends, including deaths, which she knows about. I volunteer at the local cancer hospital, which she also knows about. None of this deters her from the coolness of smoking socially. At this age, teenagers have no concept or fear of mortality. We have discussed this at length but to no avail. She intellectually understands and agrees, but cool is cool. I cannot stop her smoking. It is up to her, sadly!