How to Stop My Child from Smoking

Kids often smoke because they perceive it to be cool. Many of the people that they idolize, admire and try to emulate---rock stars and celebrities---smoke on and off stage and screen. Kids also often have an unrealistic perception of their own mortality, namely, that they're invincible and that their healthy, cooperative bodies will always stay that way. Getting your child to stop smoking is extremely difficult as you must shatter the myth that smoking is cool, as well as the belief that they aren't harming their bodies.

Things You'll Need

• Color printer
• Telephone

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Instructions

• 1

  Use the Internet to search for anti-smoking celebrities, such as Christy Turlington. There are many celebrities who are quite active about the dangers of smoking. Find films, interviews or concerts of these people and present them to your child.

• 2

  Use the Internet to find pictures of the blackened, hardened lungs of smokers. This will offer undeniable proof of the lasting damage that smoking cigarettes can cause to the human body. Print these pictures from a good color printer and post them around your house: on the fridge, on the bathroom mirror, or as the desktop wallpaper of your family computer.

• 3

  Call your local hospital. Explain that you are a concerned parent who has a young child who has begun to smoke and that you'd like to take your child to the cancer ward of the hospital, for an un-intrusive visit. Observing the lung cancer patients breathing with the help of respirators and dealing with the pains of chemotherapy should scare your child into quitting such a dangerous habit.