Please Take The Time To Read!Ohhh so much that has happened in the past few days. I feel so tense. I need a massage. (laugh) I just want to get on the soapbox if I could for a moment. A very special thank you goes out to Curtis aka ODT. I applaud you for stepping up to the plate and informing our generation and the generations to come about the dangers of tobacco and how addictive nicotine truly is. This is a bit lengthy but if you have children (no matter what age) it's really worth reading!
Note: I retrieved this infomation from our family's new health insurance website.
April 5, 2006 marks the eleventh annual Kick Butts Day celebration. No, this day is not about playground fights or kung-fu movie marathons; instead it is about raising awareness, on a national level, of the risks and concerns associated with children and smoking and the Tobacco Industry. According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (2005), nearly all first-time use of tobacco occurs before high school graduation. Additionally, it has been shown that the younger a person begins to smoke, the more likely they are to become an adult smoker.
Kick Butts Day is the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids'annual celebration of youth advocacy, leadership, and activism. The Kick Butts Day organization aims to get youth all over the country involved in educating, rallying, and advocating their peers to start fighting back against the marketing, merchandising, and social pressures that are persuading the nation's youth to start using tobacco. Everyone is welcome; there are hundreds of opportunities for a child or parent to take action and get involved in your community and across the country.
Please, start talking to your children about tobacco and the risks involved with its use. You don't have to wait until April 5th - there is no time like the present to start this journey. Children are faced with so many social, peer, and academic pressures, the last thing they need is to find release through tobacco. Support them, it is not an easy road they will travel, but if you start now - the life hurdles later will be easier. Start Kicking Butts today!
The following is an article written and reprinted with the permission of KidsHealth, an organization dedicated to helping parents and children lead healthy, happy, and full lives through wellness and education. Spend some time reading this material with your child or children. Use it as a starting point to get the conversations about tobacco and other substance abuse rolling. It's never easy to imagine our babies growing up and facing the dangers of the world, but if we arm them with education and awareness we can rest easier that they will never be alone.
This document is from
KidsHealth(
www.kidshealth.org)
Talking to Your Child About Smoking and Smokeless TobaccoAdvertisers spend billions of dollars each year trying to get children to smoke. Talking to your kids honestly, clearly, and convincingly about the dangers of tobacco and nicotine addiction is an essential part of good parenting. To be blunt: your words can save their lives. Read this article to find out how.
Why Do I Need to Talk to My Child About Tobacco?According to the U.S. Surgeon General, smoking is the chief cause of preventable deaths in the United States. At the same time, however, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that each day more than 3,000 kids become regular smokers and that about one third of these children will eventually die a "smoker's death" from cancer, heart disease, or lung disease.
And the danger isn't just smoking cigarettes. Smokeless tobacco (chewing or spit tobacco) can also lead to nicotine addiction, oral cancer, gum disease, and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks. Despite these dangers, about 16% of U.S. high school boys in grades 9 to 12 use smokeless tobacco, with rates rising as high as 35% in some western states.
Nicotine affects mood as well as the heart, lungs, stomach, and nervous system. Short-term effects of smoking include coughing and throat irritation. Over time, more serious conditions may develop, including increases in heart rate and blood pressure. Smoking also leads to bronchitis and emphysema and increases the risk of heart attacks.
Finally, numerous studies indicate that young smokers are more likely to experiment with marijuana, cocaine, heroin, or other illicit drugs.
About 90% of today's adult smokers started as children, so it's important that you take the opportunity to talk to your kid about smoking before she starts. Older children who haven't started to smoke are less likely to begin smoking.
"The most important way you can prepare to deal with smoking is by establishing good communication. The more you talk with your child, the better chance you have of staying close when things get tough," says Neil Izenberg, MD, pediatrician and author of How to Raise Non-Smoking Kids.
Did you know? Nearly 90% of all adult smokers start when they are teens and never intend to get hooked.What Should I Say?When talking to your child about smoking, Dr. Izenberg recommends that parents stick to the facts. "There's no need to invent - the truth is bad enough," he says. Resist lecturing or turning your advice into a sermon; the point is to communicate values such as honesty, self-reliance, and responsibility to your children - and how good values make good decisions easier to make.
How can you translate these standards to your child? To start with, even the youngest child can understand that smoking is bad for your body. Young children also imitate their parents, so if you smoke or dip, quit. Kids want to be like their parents, so setting an example is vitally important. You can also establish firm rules that exclude smoking and smokeless tobacco from your house and explain why: smokers smell bad, look bad, and feel bad.
Teach children from an early age about the differences between images used by advertisers of tobacco products and reality. One antismoking group suggests letting kids compare an ad for a toy on television with what the toy really does, and then using this example to compare images of people smoking in ads and what smoking is truly like. Teaching media literacy (helping your kids become critical consumers) is an important parenting task.
As children grow older, steer them toward positive role models in entertainment or sports who don't smoke, and continue to compare images in movies or television of heroes who smoke with what smoking does to real people. "Make it part of your daily routine to sit and talk with your kid," Dr. Izenberg says. "Don't avoid subjects because you might find them uncomfortable or you're afraid you don't know just the right words."Did you know? Wondering what kills more each year than AIDS, fires, car accidents, murders, suicides, alcohol, and other drugs combined? You've got it - Smoking.By sharing time with your 8- to 11-year-old and valuing her opinions and ideas, you help build her self-confidence and self-worth - qualities that will help her to combat subtle advertising messages that promote rebellion and being cool above all. Kids who believe in themselves and have support at home may be better able to reject these messages.
The need to be socially accepted often increases as kids approach their teens. But if you've equipped your child with the facts about tobacco's dangers and helped your child to develop healthy self-esteem, she won't want to smoke or use smokeless tobacco. What she probably will want is simply to be accepted by her peers.
"Saying 'no' to people your child wants desperately to please can seem far worse than smoking a few cigarettes," Dr. Izenberg says.
To help your teen, talk to her about how to respond to those who encourage her to light up. Responses may range from simply saying "no" to excuses about smoking being a waste of money. When discussing these issues with your teen, be a patient listener. "Don't expect teens to be consistent, logical, articulate, or even conscious of the reasons why they do things. It will take time to develop a defensible position against smoking," Dr. Izenberg warns. If your child seems overly angry or depressed, however, you may want to consult your child's doctor.
Risk FactorsKids may be drawn to smoking for any number of reasons - to look cool, act older, lose weight, win cool merchandise, seem tough, or feel independent.
To combat these images, you can explain that virtually all the adults who smoke started when they were teens and continue to smoke because they are addicted. Give your child the facts: nine out of 10 new teen smokers say they plan to quit within a year; few actually do.
Talk about what true independence means and how much of your teen's daily routine would be governed by cigarettes if she began to smoke. How would this affect her friendships? How will she afford the habit? Discuss what being an adult really means. And while you're talking about independence and adulthood, encourage your teen to take on some constructive and healthy responsibilities that come with being older, such as having a part-time job or volunteering.
If your child is using cigarettes to be cool or rebel, you can try a couple of things. Remind your child of the difference between image and substance: what cigarettes do to your looks or your health vs. the so-called glamorous image. Talk about how what your kid may see as rebellion is actually the result of being the dupe of clever marketing - hardly the sign of a rebel.
Remember that a kid may also be using smoking as a way to test your limits, so maintain your rules. If your child is smoking to test her own limitations to see if she can smoke and quit, steer her toward some other, less deadly forms of risk taking. Hiking, swimming, and climbing are a few activities that can put your child on the edge.
Tips for ParentsBelow are some tips for improving communication about tobacco products:
Be a good listener. Make sure your child feels comfortable bringing problems or questions to you. Note what your child is not saying. If she doesn't tell you about her friends, for example, take the initiative and ask questions.
Be available to discuss sensitive subjects. Children need to know they can rely on their parents for accurate information.
Emphasize what your child does right rather than wrong. Self-confidence is your child's best protection against peer pressure.
Give clear, specific messages when talking about tobacco and tobacco products so your child will know exactly what is expected.
Help your kid to get involved in activities that preclude smoking, such as sports activities. Many coaches actively discourage smoking. Among other things, it negatively affects performance.
Encourage your child to walk away from friends who don't recognize or respect her reasons for not smoking.
Read, watch television, and go to the movies with your child. Compare media images to reality. For example, watch a heavy smoking hero run from "bad" guys. Does he end up wheezing or coughing when he finally escapes? Also talk about what you don't see or hear. When the camera moves in on two smokers whispering to one another, do you hear a wheeze or see wrinkles? Why not?
Be aware of who your kid hangs out with. If she has at least one close friend who smokes, the chances that she'll pick up a cigarette are much greater. If that's the case, don't wait until you know your child has started to smoke. Instead, Dr. Izenberg suggests you might want to try asking something like "Your friend, Steve, smokes, doesn't he? Do you feel tempted to smoke when you're with him?"
If you are or your child are experiencing difficulties communicating, coping, or managing the daily stressors of life please contact your health care insurance company. There are trained professionals waiting to help you achieve wellness and peace of mind.
Information from KidsHealth, at
http://www.no-smoking.org/august04/08-10-04-6.html References:
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. (2005.) The Path to Smoking Addiction Starts at Very Young Ages. Retrieved March 29, 2006 from:
www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsh ... f/0127.pdf.
I spoke with ODT recently about my teenage son coming home and telling me about another boy bringing Kodiak to school. His friend told him it was harmless because his dad does it. The boy talked about the different flavors Kodiak has and wanted Paul to try some. He wouldn't but he also would not believe me that Kodiak was just like Mom's ex-friend Copenhagen. I had to show him on the internet. He told me that he didn't think that his friend knew it actually had "tobacco/nicotine" in it. I told Paul to tell him if he brought it to school again and my son saw it to go to the office and report him having a tobacco product on school campus. It made me feel really good not just the aspect of child/parent communication but that I don't use smokeless tobacco anymore. I finally grew up.
To those of you who haven't quit: Isn't it time to grow up? I don't care how many times you've said that you're not addicted. YOU ARE! Been there - said it! I don't care how many times you've said "ahhh they're crazy .. I can quit this anytime I want to." Been there - said that too! I don't care how many times you've thought, " I've tried to quit many times but I just can't do it. I'm going to die one day." Yep - been there and said that too. Now take a good look around you. Are you ready to die today? Never to see your family or friends again - all because you want to be selfish. All because of your "you can quit anytime attitude?" Why not make that anytime ..
n-o-w?
You can do it! Post Day 1 and prove to yourself - nobody else but yourself - that you have grown up.
ODT, Bless you for educating our children! I only wish I had the means to do what you do as a motivational speaker and travel - to show that even females become addicted to this as well. Everything happens for a reason - though your ordeal might have been heartbreaking to you and your family in the end you've saved a child, mother/father or future wife/husband that very same heartbreak or worse yet the heartache of losing a loved one!
Thank you! -xo
And a
huge thank you to this very site, to everyone in my April Quit Group and my brothers and sisters for helping me stay quit by choosing one day at a time to be tobacco-free!
Think you can't quit? THINK AGAIN!
Day 168
mylilsecret
