Smoking Kids

Smoking In Kids 

The health risks of tobacco are well known, but kids and teens continue to smoke and use chewing tobacco. Many young people pick up these habits every year — in fact, 90% of all adult smokers started when they were kids. Each day, more than 5,000 kids become regular smokers.

So it's important to make sure kids understand the dangers of tobacco use. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States, and can cause cancer, heart disease, and lung disease. Chewing tobacco (smokeless or spit tobacco) can lead to nicotine addiction, oral cancer, gum disease, and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks.

Giving kids information about the risks of smoking and chewing tobacco, and establishing clear rules and your reasons for them, can help protect them from these unhealthy habits.

You also should know the warning signs of tobacco use and constructive ways to help someone kick the habit.

The Facts About Tobacco

One of the major problems with smoking and chewing tobacco has to do with the chemical nicotine. Someone can get addicted to nicotine within days of first using it. In fact, the nicotine in tobacco can be as addictive as cocaine or heroin. Nicotine affects mood as well as the heart, lungs, stomach, and nervous system.

Other health risks include short-term effects of smoking such as coughing and throat irritation. Over time, more serious conditions may develop, including increases in heart rate and blood pressure, bronchitis, and emphysema.

Finally, numerous studies indicate that young smokers are more likely to experiment with marijuana, cocaine, heroin, or other illicit drugs.

The Attraction for Kids

Kids might be drawn to smoking and chewing tobacco for any number of reasons — to look cool, act older, lose weight, win cool merchandise, seem tough, or feel independent.

But parents can combat those draws and keep kids from trying — and getting addicted to — tobacco. Establish a good foundation of communication with your kids early on to make it easier to work through tricky issues like tobacco use.

Prevention Tips

To help prevent your kids from using tobacco, keep these guidelines in mind:·         Discuss it in a way that doesn't make kids fear punishment or judgment.
·         It's important to keep talking to kids about the dangers of tobacco use over the years. Even the youngest child can understand that smoking is bad for the body.
·         Ask what kids find appealing — or unappealing — about smoking. Be a patient listener.
·         Read, watch TV, and go to the movies with your kids. Compare media images with what happens in reality.
·         Encourage kids to get involved in activities that prohibit smoking, such as sports.
·         Show that you value your kids' opinions and ideas.
·         Discuss ways to respond to peer pressure to smoke. Your child may feel confident simply saying "no." But also offer alternative responses such as "It will make my clothes and breath smell bad" or "I hate the way it makes me look."
·         Emphasize what kids do right rather than wrong. Self-confidence is a child's best protection against peer pressure.
·         Encourage kids to walk away from friends who don't respect their reasons for not smoking.
·         Explain how much smoking governs the daily life of kids who start doing it. How do they afford the cigarettes? How do they have money to pay for other things they want? How does it affect their friendships?
·         Establish firm rules that exclude smoking and chewing tobacco from your house and explain why: Smokers smell bad, look bad, and feel bad, and it's bad for everyone's health.

What to Watch For

If you smell smoke on your child's clothing, try not to overreact. Ask about it first — maybe he or she has been hanging around with friends who smoke or just tried one cigarette. Many kids do try a cigarette at one time or another but don't go on to become regular smokers.

Additional signs of tobacco use include:

·         coughing

·         throat irritation

·         hoarseness

·         bad breath

·         decreased athletic performance

·         greater susceptibility to colds

·         stained teeth and clothing (also signs of chewing tobacco use)

·         shortness of breath

Getting Through to Kids

Sometimes even the best foundation isn't enough to stop kids from experimenting with tobacco. It may be tempting to get angry, but it's more productive to focus on communicating with your child.

Here are some tips that may help:

·         Resist lecturing or turning your advice into a sermon.

·         Uncover what appeals to your child about smoking and talk about it honestly.

·         Many times, kids aren't able to appreciate how their current behaviors can affect their future health. So talk about the immediate downsides to smoking: less money to spend on other pursuits, shortness of breath, bad breath, yellow teeth, and smelly clothes.

·         Stick to the smoking rules you've set up. And don't let a child smoke at home to keep the peace.

·         If you hear, "I can quit any time I want," ask your child to show you by quitting cold turkey for a week.

·         Try not to nag. Ultimately, quitting is the smoker's decision.

·         Help your child develop a quitting plan and offer information and resources, and reinforce the decision to quit with praise.

·         Stress the natural rewards that come with quitting: freedom from addiction, improved fitness, better athletic performance, and improved appearance.

Encourage a meeting with your doctor, who can be supportive and may have treatment plans

Anxiety in children

HANDLE CHILDREN ANXIETY 

·         Encourage your child to discuss his/her fears with you. Children, who are encouraged to talk about their concerns and feelings, will feel comforted and less alone. By listening to your child, you may also discover what the underlying problem is and therefore find ways to help. Suggest that your child write a story or draw a picture of scary things, and look for clues to help you understand his fears better.

·         Reassure and comfort your child. Children need lots of hugs and assurance that they are safe and understood. It is important to acknowledge their fears as being real to them and not trivialize their feelings. What children fear may seem silly to you, but that doesn’t make the emotion any less real.

·         Watch out for your own anxieties and worries. In some cases, anxiety is a learnt response and children may be picking up on your tensions. You are your child’s best model for behavior!

·   Teach your child relaxation techniques like deep breathing during anxious moments, counting to 10 or self-soothing statements. These methods can help to empower your child and will provide the inner confidence needed to overcome the fears.

·       Routines and plenty of warning before change can go a long way to making your child feel more secure and less anxious. Explain new situations in advance in a simple, friendly manner. (Try role playing to prepare for upcoming situations)

·      Remind your child of old fears that they overcame. This will provide the courage and confidence to face current fears. Always praise children’s efforts and successes when they do confront these anxieties.

·         Do not accommodate your child’s fears. If your child fears something, don’t purposefully avoid it as this will reinforce the need for escape and confirm the ‘reality’ of the danger. However, DO reassure your child and try to help him or her through the situation successfully.

·        Don’t dismiss feelings. Telling your child not to worry about her fears may only make her feel like she’s doing something wrong by feeling anxious. Let her know its okay to feel bad about something, and encourage her to share her emotions and thoughts.

· Listen. You know how enormously comforting it can be just to have someone listen when something’s bothering you. Do the same thing for your child. If he doesn’t feel like talking, let him know you are there for him. Just be by his side and remind him that you love him and support him.

·  Offer comfort and distraction. Try to do something she enjoys, like playing a favorite game or cuddling in your lap and having you read to her, just as you did when she was younger. When the chips are down, even a 10-year-old will appreciate a good dose of parent TLC.

· Keep your child healthy. Make sure he’s eating right and getting enough sleep. Not getting enough rest or eating nutritious meals at regular intervals can contribute to your child’s stress. If he feels good, he’ll be better equipped to work through whatever is bothering him.

·Avoid overscheduling. Soccer, karate, baseball, music lessons, play dates the list of extracurricular activities kids can take on is endless. But too many activities can easily lead to stress and anxiety in children. Just as grownups need some downtime after work and on weekends, children also need some quiet time alone to decompress.

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·         Consult a counselor or your pediatrician. If you suspect that a change in the family such as a new sibling, a move, divorce, or a death of a family member is behind your child's stress and anxiety, seek advice from an expert such as your child's school counselor, your pediatrician, or a child therapist. They can suggest ways to help a child talk about death, for instance, or help him through any other shift in the family.

·         Set a calm example. You can set the tone for how stress and anxiety in children and adults is handled in your house. It's virtually impossible to block out stress from our lives in today's high-tech, 24-hour-news-cycle world, but you can do something about how you handle your own stress. And the more you are able to keep things calm and peaceful at home, the less likely it is that anxiety in children will be a problem in your household

 THANKS 

By: Lubna Mehmood

           Counselling Psychologist

        Meerut U.P (INDIA)