DON’T SMOKE AROUND YOUR CHILDREN

Smoking is injurious to health. How many of those who smoke actually take this advice? None and they continue smoking even after they have children and in front of them too.

In fact, for most of the seasoned smokers, it takes a health scare like a heart attack or cancer to make them minimise this habit and eventually stop it. By this time, it is too late.

I am writing this blog to highlight the effects your smoking can have on your children.

HOW PASSIVE SMOKING IS DANGEROUS FOR YOUR NEAR AND DEAR ONES

As a smoker, you might be thinking that the smoke will only harm you and not those around you. That is where you are wrong. In fact, passive smoking is actually more dangerous than active smoking.

Pregnant women who smoke and those who live with smoking partners or work in a smoky environment give birth to underweight babies. If you are expecting a baby, this is a good time to think about stopping this habit for the health of your partner and your unborn child.

Children of smoking parents tend to be at a higher risk of cot death, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. They are also more prone to coughs, colds, and diseases like asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia.

Some parents do not smoke when their children are around. However, that does not stop your habit affecting them simply because they are not inhaling your smoke. When you smoke, it remains in the immediate vicinity for two to three hours, so despite you not smoking when your children are in the car with you or in your room, the effects of the cigarette you had are still around them and they inhaling the polluted air.

The toxins that are in the smoke settle on the surface where the person has been smoking.  This could be anything from floors, blankets, sofas, beds, clothes and hair. Therefore, children are still exposed to the toxins released from the smoke.

Children, who have seen their parents smoking, tend to start smoking when they grow up.

PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN FROM THE HAZARDS OF SMOKING

The only way you can protect your family from the harmful effects of smoking is by quitting it. By giving up smoking, you will be the epitome of non-smoking perfection for your child.

If you are not ready to give it up, for whatever reason try to reduce your family’s exposure to your smoking.

Make sure, you or anyone else does not smoke anywhere near your children. That will mean you have to smoke outside the house and car. No one should also smoke in any enclosed areas where your children have access.

If you are visiting friends or leaving your children in someone else’s care, ensure that the environment is smoke-free.

Never smoke in a vehicle that children travel in.

Our children are our lives. Let us make sure that they have the best we can give them, including a smoke-free environment. Make their future by trying to break the habit.