How to Make a Teenager to Quit Smoking

Teenagers view smoking as a way of appearing adult and sophisticated. Many advertisements depict smoking as cool, grown up and sophisticated, shaping teenagers' attitudes toward smoking. In addition to media pressure, teens are also exposed to peer pressure. Friends say that smoking is cool and encourage their fiends to start a habit that can have serious consequences. Depending on the environment in which your child has been raised, exposure to smoking can come from different avenues. If you as a parent smoke, there is a good chance your teen will, too.

Things You'll Need

• Medications to help control cravings
• Nicotine patches

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Instructions

Communicate

• 1

  Make sure children and teenagers are aware of smoking's dangers. Children, and especially teens, are extremely vulnerable and are easily influenced. Parents, teachers and other responsible adults must make sure that teenagers have the proper information regarding the dangers of smoking.

• 2

  Do not berate, shout or scream at your teenager. Sit him down, and rationally try to understand why he started smoking.

• 3

  Encourage her to talk about the reasons she started. Was it pressure at school, was it feeling left out of the popular crowd or did she want to feel cool and grown up?

• 4

  Be patient and not critical. Listen carefully and encourage him to talk about himself.

Appeal to Your Teenager

• 5

  Appeal to your teen's vanity. Teens are conscious of how they appear to others and want to put their best face forward.

• 6

  Write down with your teenager some reasons to quit smoking. You could make list similar to this.

  Reasons to quit:
  1. Smoking makes your breath smell bad. This is a big vanity point.
  2. Smoking will make your teeth turn yellow and leave nicotine stains on your fingers and fingernails which are hard to remove.
  3. Smoking leaves your clothes, hair and body smelling of tobacco. This is a put off, especially if he wants to go on a date and his date does not smoke.
  4. Smoking drains your energy. Sports and other activities will become increasingly difficult.
  5. Smoking has serious long-term health implications. The smoke irritates the lungs and can eventually lead to a hacking cough, phlegm--and possibly cancer.

• 7

  Encourage your teenager to weigh all options of long-term smoking. Does she want a habit that controls her life, or does she want to be in control?

• 8

  Set an example for your teenager. If you are a smoker, set an example by quitting. You could make quitting smoking a shared project.

Take Action

• 9

  Set a date or period of time to quit, but avoid stressful times.

• 10

  Encourage your teen to write down his goals to quit smoking. Teach him to set goals and how to reach them.

• 11

  Encourage your teenager to choose friends who don't smoke. This will make quitting easier as she won't have friends who encourage her smoking.

• 12

  Teach and encourage your teen to take control and learn to say no.

• 13

  Enroll your teenager in a support group. Support groups are great motivators to quit smoking.