If you found a pack of cigarettes in your children's room, or smell smoke on their clothes, you should take immediate steps to help them quit smoking. This might seem like a large issue, but you have to do whatever you can to help your children form good habits that will let them live a healthy life.. Below are some tips to help them leave this nasty habit behind.
Visit the Oncology Ward
Many lung cancer victims would love to be able to talk with children that smoke. Take your children to the hospital's oncology ward, and ask them if you and your children can speak with some lung cancer patients. If they and the patient agree, have your teenagers sit down with them and talk.
Look at Photographs
Look online for photographs of people who have been smoking a long time, and show them to your children. This shows them what they will likely look like if they do not quit. For example, they may see yellowing teeth, wrinkled lips, pale skin, dry hair, etc. You could also show them photographs of diseased throats, mouths, and lungs.
Watch Videos
There are many videos available online about people that have cancer due to smoking. Many of these people have created these videos on their own to try to help people quit. You can also find anti-smoking videos that can be helpful.
Wear a Rubber Band
Purchase some rubber bands and have your children wear them around their wrist. Tell them each time they want to smoke, snap it against their wrist hard.
Tell the Truth About Cigarettes
Tell your children that cigarette smoke has more than 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known carcinogenic compounds, as well as 400 other toxins. The ingredients in cigarettes include tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, arsenic, DDT, cyanide, and ammonia. One drop of pure nicotine on their tongue would kill them, and that is what they are getting out of their cigarettes.
Your teenager may look at cigarettes as being cool and fun to smoke. Showing them the real truth about them, can help them quit. Right now is the easiest time for them to do so. The longer they smoke the harder it will be to quit. If you still have questions or want more help, you might try visiting or contacting a company like Sturdy Memorial Hospital to learn more about what you can do to help curb this habit in your child.
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