Everybody knows how difficult it is to guide a teen or a young man, the rebellion is unevitable during this phase of their life, that is why if you ask them to do something, they will do the opposite.

Let’s see the facts:

• 3 out of 4 kids already know about smoking before the age of 5, regardless if the parents were smokers or not
• At 11 years of age, one-third of them already tried smoking; 16 years of age, two-thirds.
• In Great Brittan, 45O youth start to smoke daily
• 8O% of smokers started smoking in their teenage years
• The heavy smokers, one-fourth is under 15 years, even though they can’t buy it.
• Until the number of adult smokers are reduced, the numbers of young ones continually grow.

And it does not matter if they know it can cause serious damages in the body, and can even cause death too; they still buy it and start smoking.

As parents, what can we do to open their eyes before they start to try smoking?

• Talk with your teen about the health risks of smoking

But don’t attack, or shout, don’t humiliate or threaten. Sit down calmly and start a conversation with your child. Don’t plead. Let the kid talk also. Ask them what they think about cigarettes, what they have heard about it. If you find a gap in their knowledge, give the necessary information. Make sure your kid doesn’t feel uncomfortable during the conversation, make the atmosphere free and relaxed. Let the child make his own conclusions about smoking, with your guidance, of course.

• Help your teen make a good choice.

Explain to your child the advantages of not smoking. For example: longer life, preventing a lot of illnesses, his breath won’t be smelly, his clothes, his hair, his skin, his teeth wont be yellow. If your kid is not smoking, praise him, tell him you’re proud of him. If your kid is active in any sport, then he probably won’t be a smoker.

• Don’t give orders to your child

Psychologist say that a kid won’t learn self-control if the parents only shake their heads. The forbidden fruit is always sweeter. Try to not ban them from smoking and not punish them when you catch them, but better to try to make a list about contra-cigarette. Let them find out the facts that would prove that cigarette smoking is not good at all, not healthy, and is very unnecessary in life.

• Point to the negative physical effects of smoking

If you tell them all the negative physical effects of smoking like cancer and cardiovascular problems, they might ignore you, because they think it’s far from them, but if you tell them about smokers looking older than their own age, how much damage it can cause the skin, the teeth, create deep wrinkles, and make their breath stink, maybe they will think twice about smoking.

• Talk about nicotine addiction

The tobacco industry puts a lot year by year to make their products more attractive. The tobacco industry makes a lot of money from nicotine addictions. It’s very easy to get used to nicotine. Later, the human organization will require more and more. Explain to your child if they start smoking, it will be very hard to stop later.

• Love your child and give them a safe home

Help them to grow up to be optimistic, self-confident, nice, and reliable persons. Those kids who are uncertain, pessimistic, angry, unreliable, and hopeless, will most probably, and can easily be, smokers. Turn your attention to your child and take this issue seriously.

• Be a good example

Those kids who are exposed to a positive family model where the parents are not smokers, are less likely to become smokers.

Honestly, the smoking topic is not that easy to talk about. There could be many reasons for smoking, even if we simply narrow it down to oral fixations, which usually arise during the early periods of a baby and mother, which is only one possible way to start an addiction. Save your child do your best, that is all you can do.