ProtectOur Kids

HowCan Parents Protect Their Kids From Becoming Addicted Tobacco Users…

Research shows that children who have a parent who smokes are more

likely to smoke and to be heavier smokers at young ages.

If you don’t use tobacco, don’t start!

If you do use tobacco, quit!

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If you use tobacco, share your struggles to quit with

your children.Kids greatly underestimate how

difficult it is to quit. ( 2 )

A tobacco-free home makes children less likely to use tobacco.

Maintain a tobacco-free home

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Parental attitudes, opinions, and feelings about their kids’ tobacco status greatly influence whether or not kids will use tobacco.

Tell your kids that you don’t want them to use tobacco and will be disappointed if they do.

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By making sure that kids know how harmful tobacco is, parents can help

kids to develop a firm, negative perception or attitude about tobacco and its consequences, and kids with such

negative perceptions or attitudes are less likely to use tobacco.

Make sure your kids have the facts

they need.

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Most teenagers wrongly believe that smoking will have no direct effect on their

health until they reach middle age. But smoking causes many immediate or near-term effects on health, including persistent coughs, respiratory

problems, a greater susceptibility to illness, and decreased physical performance.

Emphasize the immediate health

effects.

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Tobacco ads create the image that tobacco use is sexy and attractive; and kids identify improving self-image as a reason for using tobacco. Tobacco use actually causes yellow teeth, bad breath, smelly clothes, and more severe and early facial wrinkles.

Emphasize theeffects of smoking onphysical appearance.

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Good Parenting isNOT Enough…

While parents can play an important role in youth tobacco prevention, kids are subject

to other powerful influences outside their homes. Most notably, the tobacco companies

spend more than $8.5 billion per year to market and promote their products.

$8.5 BILLION

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Research studies have found that kids are three times as sensitive to tobacco advertising than adults.

Most of thesemarketing efforts reach kids.

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But dumping the entire burden on parents will not stop tobacco companies from developing new products

that appeal to kids nor will it stop tobacco marketing that reaches kids.

Big tobacco says preventing tobacco

use among kids is the responsibility of

the parents.

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Reduce the powerful impact of tobacco ads by talking with your children about the ads’ false sense

of coolness & beauty, as well as about how the tobacco companies try to manipulate kids into becoming

their future addicted customers.

Show your kids how tobacco ads and images

are designed to manipulate them.

Make your kids’ schools tobacco-free & support

other local tobacco prevention efforts.

Find out if your school is tobacco free.

Friends, movies, music, celebrities, or advertising may give teens the impression that tobacco use is sexy, helps lose weight, or can help them fit in. These are myths. Using tobacco is not a sign of maturity, and most adults who started using tobacco as teens later regret it.

Critique what teens hear about tobacco.

Cigarettes are the most common form of tobacco use, including tobacco use among teens. However there

are other forms of tobacco that teens may try to use. Sometimes they do so, thinking that the health risks

or chance of addiction are lower.

Provide accurate information about different

forms of tobacco.

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There are NO

“SAFE” alternatives to smoking cigarettes.

PERIOD. ( 9 )

FACTS…

Packs of cigarettes consumed by kids each year: 800 million

Kids under 18 alive today in North Dakota who will ultimately die from smoking

(unless smoking declines): 11,000

Tobacco companies spend nearly a million dollars an hour in this country

alone to market their products.

Kids (under 18) who try smoking for the first time each day: 3,500

The more young people are exposed to tobacco advertising and promotional activities,

the more likely they are to smoke. ( 10 )

Some cigarette-sized cigars contain candy and fruit flavoring, such as strawberry and grape.

Many tobacco products on the market

appeal to youth.( 12 )

Prevention is critical.Successful multi-component programs prevent young people from starting to use tobacco in the first place and more than pay for themselves in lives and health care dollars saved.

What’s workingWell-funded tobacco prevention programs

Laws requiring smoke-free workplaces & public places

Higher tobacco taxes

Public education campaigns

Regulation of the manufacturing, marketing & sales of tobacco products ( 11 )

Policies are very important in preventing young people from using tobacco because they can change the environment so

that choosing a tobacco-free life is encouraged and supported. You can make a difference, starting today by showing your

support for policies:

What you can do

Make tobacco products less affordable by increasing tobacco taxes.

Support existing tobacco-free and smoke-free policies within your community and show your support

for new policies that protect kids from using tobacco, which can include tobacco-free schools, daycares and outdoor public

places such as parks and recreation areas.

Restrict tobacco marketing.

BreatheND.com/what

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Gilman, SE, et al., “Parental Smoking and Adolescent Smoking Initiation: An Intergenerational Perspective on Tobacco Control,” Pediatrics 123(2): e274-e281, February 2009. Bauman, K, et al., “Effect of parental smoking classification on the association between parental and adolescent smoking,” Addictive Behaviors 15(5):413-22

1990. See also, Osler, M, et al., “Maternal smoking during childhood and increased risk of smoking in young adulthood,” International Journal of Epidemiology 24(4):710-4, August 1995.

Farkas, A, et al., “Does parental smoking cessation discourage adolescent smoking,” Preventive Medicine 28(3):213-8, March 1999. How Parents Can Protect Their Kids From Becoming Addicted Smokers / 4

Johnston, LD, et al., “Drug Use, Drinking, and Smoking: National Survey Results from High School, College, and Young Adult Populations, 19751988,” National Institute on Drug Abuse, Washington, DC, 1989. See also, Stanton, W, et al., “Adolescents’ experiences of smoking cessation,” Drug and Alcohol Dependence 43:63-70, 1996.

Gilpin, E, et al., “Home smoking restrictions: which smokers have them and how they are associated with smoking behavior,” Nicotine and Tobacco Research 1:153-162, 1999. See also, Proescholdbell, R, et al., “Home smoking restrictions and adolescent smoking,” Nicotine and Tobacco Research 2(2):159-67,2000.

Sargent, J, et al., “Strong parental disapproval of smoking prevents adolescents from becoming established smokers,” Pediatric Research 47(4 supp):11A (abstract 63), 2000. See also, Distefan, J, et al., “Parental influences predict adolescent smoking in the United States, 1989-1993,” Journal of Adolescent Health 22: 466-74, 1998.

Reimers, T, et al., “Risk factors for adolescent cigarette smoking. The Muscatine study,” American Journal of Diseases of Children 144(11):1265-72, November 1990. See also, Greenlund, K, et al., “Cigarette smoking attitudes and first use among third- through sixth-grade students: The Bogalusa Heart Study,” American Journal of Public Health 87(8):1345-8, August 1997.

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References - To download a list PDF of our resources, click here.  

American Academy of Pediatrics, Child Health Month Report, “The Risks of Tobacco Use: A Message to Parents and Teens,”October 1998. See also, Milam, J, “Perceived invulnerability and cigarette smoking among adolescents,” Addictive Behaviors 25(1):71-80, Jan-Feb 2000.

Newman, I, “Capturing the energy of peer pressure: insights from a longitudinal study of adolescent cigarette smoking,” Journal of School Health 54(4):146-8, April 1984. See also, Stanton, W, et al., “Reasons for smoking or not smoking in early adolescence,” Addictive Behaviors 18(3):321-9, May-June 1993.

See TFK factsheet, How Parents Can Protect Their Kids From Becoming Addicted Smokers, http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0152.pdf

See TFK factsheet, Smokeless Tobacco and Kids, http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0003.pdf

See TFK factsheet, The Toll of Tobacco in North Dakota,http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/facts_issues/toll_us/north_dakota

See TFK factsheet, Prevention and Cessation Programs, http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/what_we_do/state_local/prevention_cessation/; Smoke free Laws, http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/what_we_do/state_local/smoke_free_laws/; State Tobacco Taxes, http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/what_we_do/state_local/taxes/; FDA Authority Over Tobacco, http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/what_we_do/federal_issues/fda/

See TFK, Not Your Grandfathers Cigar, http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/what_we_do/industry_watch/cigar_report/

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References

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