Parents who smoke should be found unfit to be parents...

Hmmm... interesting article here:

Perhaps most shockingly, tobacco smoke's anti-inflammatory effects may actually provide some benefits to children who are exposed to secondhand smoke. While this is certainly not worth at-home experimentation, one astonishing study conducted in Sweden observed two generations of Swedish children and found that the children of smokers had lower rates of allergic rhinitis, allergic asthma, atopic eczema, and food allergies. The studied groups included 6909 adults and 4472 children, and the findings remained consistent, even when adjusted to reflect other variables.

Just sayin'...

TheRedneck

reply to post by JaxonRoberts


Please let us know when you fall off the wagon?

I noticed a sign in my Doctors office the other day that says most Smokers quit 7 to 9 times and then start up again before they stay quit. I'd say that is a true statement. I should have written down the name of the study.

The first time I quit, I got all Holier than Thou, just as you have with this post. It practically guarantees you will start smoking again. You still view it as a moral weakness which leaves you wide open to failure.

There is nothing worse than a Preacher who was once a Sinner, determined to save the Masses from themselves. Negativity therapy was abandoned by competent people decades ago. I hope negative reinforcement is not at the heart of the method you used to quit. It's short lived and only positive reinforcement gives good long term results. If your still at less than six months off the Cig's, your chance of going back on them is far higher than not.

I agree that smoking is a terrible thing and no Parent should do it around children. I'm also aware though it is not a moral issue and that preaching to Smokers is the dumbest thing you can do. You will cause more people to start smoking than you convince to stop.

Be careful how high you go in your euphoria over quiting as the fall hurts more the higher up you go. People don't like to be preached too by somebody guilty of the same thing.

I was raised by a smoker.

I have terrible breathing problems that inhibited my future as a college athlete.

I was raised in an underdeveloped city, with very little pollution. The second hand smoke is what caused it.

Nowadays, I do think parents who smoke are being unnecessarily risky with their childrens development. I don't think they should get their children taken away from them, the need for a family for our children is more important.

But, if they want to walk around smelling like absolute garbage and get turned down at restaurants*, that's their decision.


*where I live, many restaurants won't even let you in if you stink like cigarettes or haven't bathed in a while. good rule, if you ask me.

reply to post by JaxonRoberts


Retailers who sell tobacco should be found unfit to retail.

Companies who produce tobacco should be found unfit to operate.

We need to get tobacco off the shelves before we castigate those addicted to it

reply to post by JaxonRoberts


As long as the parent is responsible and smokes outdoors then thats fine.
But its ok for your children to breath motor emissions. Parents who drive cars should not be able to parent.

I think these days there are a lot more things parents should be doing that they are not besides not smoking around there kids. While agree it cannot be a very good thing for kids to be around it, I think the way in general many parents are raising their kids today is just sick.

So many of todays youth are morally bankrupt, have no idea of ethical behaviour and simply do not have manners. Many cannot even speak the english language correctly, using slang words or mispronouncing words they do not even know the meaning of. Today's kids have too much pride, not enough fear and are emulating the failings of the prior generations even more so.

Also, half as many Americans smoke today than they did in the past four decades, yet lung cancer is at its highest levels. Why? Read below:

Fast Food and Junk Food = Lung cancer

I am a smoker, my parents were smokers, and my grandparents were smokers. I didn't start smoking because of it, I started smoking because I liked it when i drank. Do I blame alcohol as the gateway? NO!

So before we go attacking smokers for being bad parents, lets actually attack the BAD PARENTS, whether they smoke or not.

reply to post by Blaine91555

I noticed a sign in my Doctors office the other day that says most Smokers quit 7 to 9 times and then start up again before they stay quit. I'd say that is a true statement. I should have written down the name of the study.

It is a lot more than 7-9 times.

Hell I quit every night, start right back up in the morning.

To the OP:
Keep your kids out of cars if you want them to live longer. Cars kill.

Originally posted by AndrewJay
If someone stinks do you run up right next to them and scream in their face? call the cops and demand he take a shower? No? So why do you do it to smokers?

What has this got to do with somebody ''stinking'' ?

Originally posted by AndrewJay
Learn to mind your own damn business nobody is forcing you to place yourself or your child right next to someone smoking a cigarette and guess what?

How can a child ''mind its own damn business'' when it's forced to inhale harmful toxins, purely because its mother or father can't control their self-gratifying urges ?

Originally posted by AndrewJay
Those that smoke infront of their children? Hey its their children not yours. Its not your job to tell other people how to raise their #ing kids.

Of course. Just as it's not my business whether somebody beats or sexually abuses their children.

It's not our job to tell them how to raise their kids, after all...

reply to post by JaxonRoberts


You know, Jaxon, as a smoker and a person who grew up around a family that smokes,when I saw the title of your thread I was extremely offended and was about to basically go all rage on your OP
...But....
Then I actually read the thread, and it got me to think, But I also can't get myself to go as far as saying that Parent's who smoke should be seen as unfit...because if the children are taken care of and not unhappy, scared, or abused by their family. Then I think it would be more psychologically traumatic for the child to be taken away from their parent's and put into foster care than to have a parent who is a smoker, a lot of kids put into foster care also suffer from behavior disorders. The kids being separated from their parent's (even if abused) causes a lot of disorders. Even if the child is sent to a family member. I mean of course if they are abused they should be taken away..ack... I digress. Anyways, my point is that "unfit" is a harsh word, and I think can be a dangerous label when the child is in a loving home.
see here...
www.comeunity.com...

Given that the life of a child in foster care is often filled with separation and loss it is not surprising that behavioral and psychiatric issues are common in these children.

I think there is a responsible way to go about this, that should be encouraged. The words, "out of sight, out of mind" is what I think of when it comes to being a smoker raising a child. My sister, who is a wonderful mother, she smoked before she was pregnant, quit when she found out, she did exactly what the doctor said. She went exactly by the book through out her pregnancy. But, as you said, smoking is a strong addiction. As a smoker, I know that when I'm under a lot of stress, or having any sort of anxiety the first thing I turn to is a cigarette. After my niece was born my sister had postpartum depression, which I believe is what made her start smoking again. But I notice that her habits of smoking have changed dramatically now that she has a child. She refuses to smoke in the house, or in the car. People who are around her daughter are not allowed to light a cigarette in front of her. After smoking a cigarette, my sister (she is a lot like me, worry wart, germaphobe) before she even touches her daughter washes her hands, brushes her teeth, and changes her t-shirt. She says that until she quits she will be hiding the fact that she smokes from her daughter. In this case, yes, it's hypocritical. But I think she is still doing the responsible thing to make sure her daughter isn't influenced to smoke because her mother does it.

I know a lot of parent's who do this, they hide that they use tobacco from their kids, my sister-in-law did this before she quit smoking...and my nephews, at 8 and 12 are very smart and very good kids. They are fantastic athletes also. I'm very proud of them...Ah, I'm rambling again... Anyways my point is, if an adult chooses to smoke and also be a parent...they need to be educated and responsible about it.

As for the financial aspect, if their kids are clothed, fed, and sheltered properly, and are able to be taken to the doctor if needed... Then, I don't think thats anyone's business other than the family's.

My point in all of this: I don't see that a parent should be called unfit only because they smoke, but they should be responsible about it or else I feel they are being selfish and could influence their child to smoke in the future.

Awesome thread Jaxon, S & F.... you really made me think with this topic.... i know.. i know... shocking

P.S. I skimmed through comments and I realize a lot of people have the same opinion as me and I'm basically saying the same thing just in different words....but...I PUT SO MUCH EFFORT INTO THIS COMMENT...this was a lot for my little attention span.

reply to post by JaxonRoberts


read the replies; I posted one already. Go to my thread on Joe Jackson's essay on smoking. It's shocking. It might not show you studies that say that smoke is good for kids, but you'll be surprised at the reality behind the studies that say it is harmful. That is, if you're open-minded enough not to reject it out of hand:
Joe Jackson on smoking

Originally posted by SlovenlyGhost

There's a million ways to die and the air is already so polluted. What the difference between a kid breathing in smoke from a cigarette or from exhaust fumes?

Relative proportions and frequency.

Life is funny like that. I've heard lots of stories about guys who were health freaks and one day they get hit by a car or their plane plunges into the ocean. All this hub hub about smoking is silly.

And I've heard stories of people who were unhealthy people getting hit by a cars. I've also heard stories of unhealthy people living miserably, because of their lifestyle choices, as they beg for death.

Do you guys actually believe it's possible to save yourselves from dying?

That's the problem with arguments like the one you're presenting here. It's not about cheating death. It's about being deathly afraid of burdening family members financially and emotionallyas they take care of me; it's about being deathly afraid of not being able to see my grandchildren; it's about being deathly afraid of not having QUALITY OF LIFE.

reply to post by JaxonRoberts


REALLY? Deemed as unfit? Interesting. Are you gonna jump up and down like a lunatic at the parents with Obese children too?

I myself am a RESPONSIBLE smoker! Never smoking inside my house! I do smoke in my car, as long as children ARE NOT IN IT!

Do you realise there is more polution coming out of your cars exhaust than that cigarete I puff on?

There has been NO PROOF that 1st, 2nd or 3rd hand smoke causes cancer, asthma etc! I have a brother and sister in law, who both NEVER smoked yadda yadda, and both got a form of cancer. Thankfully, they have both beat the disease for now.
I have nephews whom have never been around smoke whom suffer from asthma.

Every human has cancer cells within their bodies at all times, yet only 1/3 of people suffer from the disease in one form or another.
The environment we live in, grew up in does have some say in predetermination, but it does not prove it is the cause of x, y or z. Science is not that accurate.

The thing I hate is to see a former smoker, act as if they are better than those of us whom still do smoke.
I find it quite ironic that I have smoked for 24 years, and am fit as a fiddle. Yet my brother who never smoked ate and excersized correctly, got sick.

The types of parents that should be deemed unfit are the ones that are unloving and abusive.

I tell you what ..next to fundamentalist religious nutters ,there is nothing worse than an ex smoker!
I smoke outside in my backyard all by myself and me....you gonna try and take that little pleasure I have left away from me?Naaaaahhh! LOL

Thanks for starting this thread, It got me smoking twice as much..........

Out to smoke another. , My cigs are the only family I got, The only thing that keeps me warm on a cold rainy day...

reply to post by JaxonRoberts


BOOOOOO!!!

Live your life how you wish, do not force your views on others.

Ripping a child away from their parent because they smoke, causing them (in YOUR eyes only) to be 'unfit' is one of the cruelest things I've heard of lately.

You should be ashamed of even having such thoughts.

I have a son and I only smoke outside away from him

simplez

OK Jax, I'll bite...

If I didn't know you better I'd swear you were a Tool of the NWO

Let's just say your suggestion comes to pass. Where do we get the money to pay for all new CPS workers and facilities to steal all these children from their families? That's a lot of bread Bro because it's gonna be a bunch of kids we'll need to place in "safer non-smoking environments"

I'm surprised you're so anti-tobacco, Jesus smoked Chesterfields.

reply to post by ajmusicmedia


Great article you found. Love Joe Jackson. Awesome example of the facts vs speculation and opinions.