From an early age, a child should know that smoking is a bad, addictive habit. And the sooner parents start talking with their child about the dangers of smoking, the more effective.
Responsibility of parents for children
Parents are responsible for their children, for their actions. Trusting chance in a child's life is an irresponsible step. You can’t stay idle and wait whether the child will smoke or not. The correct parenting approach can affect a child's attitude towards cigarettes. And not a single advertisement of tobacco products, persuasion of peers will not arouse interest in cigarettes.
Preventive interviews
From the age of six, you can start discussing the topic of smoking at home, talking about how dangerous tobacco is, and what consequences smoking can lead to. Parents should make it clear that they do not want the child to smoke. It is not effective to carry out such preventive measures when one of the parents smokes, and the smell of tobacco in the apartment is in the order of things. Dad or mom are not always ready to give up the addiction, even for the sake of their child. We must try to smoke in secret so that the child does not take a bad example. And the best thing is to completely save yourself and your loved ones from the sight of cigarettes and an unpleasant smell.
Conversations about the dangers of smoking should be held periodically until the age of majority. This borderline period is fundamental in human life. Most bad habits start at this time. In adolescence, the child does not yet have his own clear position and opinion, he fluctuates between two fires and is subject to suggestion and bad influence. Parents need not to miss and not overlook the moment when the child goes astray. You can still fix everything.
Education at school
Parents should be aware of the school's health promotion and tobacco prevention programs. If such events are a rarity in an educational institution, then you should speak at a parent meeting with a proposal to increase the number of hours for conducting preventive conversations and trainings with schoolchildren.
You should always be interested in the affairs and hobbies of the child in order to be aware of events and not to miss important moments. You need to know where he goes, with whom he communicates, how he behaves in a team, how he rests.
At a more conscious age, the child needs to be told about how powerful the policy of tobacco companies is, that they are ready for anything for the sake of profit and big sales. It is especially important to emphasize the idea that one cannot become a weak-willed "cog" in a huge mechanism launched against a person in order to please his own selfish goals.
In order for a child to remember for the rest of his life what harm to health is caused by smoking, he needs to show photos of the lungs of smokers and talk about a terrible disease - lung cancer.
