It's all over the airwaves. A young boy's fishing trip is cut short when his anxious Father realizes he is out of dip and hastily ends the excursion. A teenage girl grimaces as her Mother tries to speak to her between coughing fits and then takes a drag off her cigarette. A hushed and grieving family gathers around a hospital bed and watches the respirator go up and down. The camera pans in on each young person, they look straight at the camera and the voice-over proclaims, Tobacco Stops with Me.
Public service announcements are fine but the main message needs to come from home. Here are some tips for parents to teach their kids about the dangers of smoking. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a national survey of tobacco use among 9-12th Graders. 22 % reported smoking cigarettes at least one day in a 30 day period. 14% reported smokeless tobacco use within the same time period. Get talking Mom and Dad!
1. Make your "No Tobacco" position clear. A no tobacco policy should be just as strictly emphasized as drugs and alcohol.
2. Look for signs of tobacco use. These include the smell of smoke, burn holes, packs of cigarettes or other packaging, bad breath and yellowish brown stains on the teeth. (This one seems a little obvious)
3. Don't assume that "good" kids aren't smoking or using smokeless tobacco products.
4. Let your child know that all forms of tobacco products have serious health risks. Many teens incorrectly assume that smokeless tobacco products are safer.
5. If you smoke, don't let that stop you from letting your kids know it is not OK. Use your own addiction to point out the pitfalls. Talk to them about the dangers of smoking.
Joe Campbell may be illegal, big tobacco can no longer target youth in their advertising, and it is harder to but a pack of cigarettes, but America's kids are still making the wrong choice regarding smoking. Parents must be pro-active in educating their children about the dangers and the risks. As the public service ads remind us-Talk. They'll listen.
3 comments:
Did you mean Joe Camel or the Malboro Man or the Virginia Slim, or LSMFT on Luckie Strikes?
Exactly-there has just been a lot of discussion about how advertising using "cool" Joe Camel is targeted directly at teens....are there still Lucky Strikes???
While such overt direct marketing to kids is supposedly eliminated, candy flavored products (including cigarettes, cigarillos, and smokeless) are obviously appealing to young people. Check out the campaign for Tobacco Free Kids for additional information.
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