Kids more likely to smoke if you do

31 May 2007

Kids more likely to smoke if you do – World Smokefree Day 31 May

The Hawke’s Bay Smokefree Coalition believes parents and caregivers have a key role to play when it comes to keeping young people smokefree. “May 31st is World Smokefree Day and I urge parents and caregivers to quit for their kids,” says Perry Hornby from the National Heart Foundation and member of the Hawke’s Bay Smokefree Coalition.

A New Zealand survey of 10 and 11 year olds showed that those who thought they would smoke in the near future were more likely to report they had a parent who smoked. Backing up this finding is research showing that young people are more than twice as likely to take up regular smoking when they have a parent who smokes. “This reminds us that young people look to their mums and dads as role models for their behaviour,” says Perry. “When they see you smoking they take in the message that smoking is OK for them too.”

Even if it is not the right time to quit, there are actions parents and caregivers can take to help keep their kids smokefree. “Many parents have taken positive steps in protecting their children from the health dangers of second-hand smoke by making their home and car smokefree,” says Perry. “Now is the time to go smokefree in front of your children as often as you can - ideally all the time. This will protect them not only from passive smoking, but also from the role-modelling of smoking.”

We want to encourage people to think twice about lighting up in front of kids wherever they are - at home, in front of the school gates, at the park or on the sports side-lines. The survey also showed that most 10 and 11 year olds thought that more than 50% of adults smoked every day - the real figure is less than half of that at around 23%. “It is a worry that our young people think that smoking is such a normal part of every day life for adults” says Perry. “We all want our kids to grow-up smokefree. By being smokefree around them at all times, wherever we are, we can help make sure this happens.”

ENDS

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