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Kids are easy targets for the tobacco industry. They're heavily influenced by TV, movies, advertising, and by what their friends do and say. They don't think much about future health consequences. There is good news: The number of kids who smoke has been going down since the late 1990s. But the bad news is the rate of tobacco smoking among teenagers is STILL higher than that of adults. Plus, about 1 in 7 high school boys use some form of spit or other types of smokeless tobacco.
To keep your child from becoming a statistic we suggest talking. Teach them to say “No” to tobacco. Here’s how:
- Remember parents can be THE GREATEST INFLUENCE in their kids' lives.
- Start talking about tobacco use when your children are 5 or 6 years old and continue through their high school years. Many kids start using tobacco by age 11. Many are addicted by age 14.
- Talk directly to your child about the risks of tobacco use; if friends or relatives suffer with or died from tobacco-related illnesses, let your child know. Tell them that smoking strains the heart, damages the lungs, and can cause a lot of other problems, including cancer. And tell them what it can do to appearance: making hair and clothes stink, causing bad breath, and staining teeth and fingernails.
- If you use tobacco try to quit. Don't use tobacco around your children, don't offer it to them, and don't leave it where they can easily get it.
- Know if your kids' friends use tobacco and talk about ways to say "no" to tobacco.
- Talk to your kids about the false glamorization of tobacco on billboards and in other media, such as movies, TV, and magazines.
- In middle school kids, 12% admitted using some form of tobacco -- cigarettes, spit or other oral tobacco and such as snuff, cigars, pipes, and flavored cigarettes like bidis or kreteks -- at least once in the past 30 days.
- In high school kids about 28% report using some type of tobacco (cigarette, cigar, pipe, bidi, kretek, or spit tobacco) on at least 1 of the 30 days before the survey.
- Only 3 out of 100 high school smokers think they will be smoking in 5 years, but in reality, studies show that 60 out of 100 will still be smoking 7 to 9 years later. The younger you are when you start the more likely to develop long-term nicotine addiction than people who start later in life.
Need more help? These materials may be ordered from the American Cancer Society at
1-800-ACS-2345 (1-800-227-2345).
Guide to Quitting Smoking (also available in Spanish) 
Questions About Smoking, Tobacco, and Health (also available in Spanish)
Smokeless Tobacco (also available in Spanish)
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office on Smoking and Health
1-800-232-4636
Internet Address: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/tips4youth.htm
American Lung Association
1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872)
Internet Address: http://www.lungusa.org
National Cancer Institute
1-877-448-7848 for smoking cessation help
1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) for cancer information
Internet Address: http://www.cancer.gov
Smokefree.gov
(Info on each state's phone-based quitting programs)
1-800-QUITNOW (1-800-784-8669)
Internet Address: http://www.smokefree.gov |
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