Should second-hand smoke be illegal in a home with children?

Chin up · Mar 12, 2011

No. Enough of government intruding into what they have no business intruding into. Period.

CaregiverGrace · Mar 12, 2011

I think people should be able to smoke in the privacy of their own home, as well as outside on any public property they want, and inside any private property that allows smoking. However, I do think preventing children from being near second-hand smoke is a good idea, and a law to penalize parents smoking around kids would be a useful one. Kids do not know one way or the other and do not have control over their surroundings. I think it should be legal to smoke outside around kids, but illegal if you do so in a house with pre-teens.

merlee · Mar 12, 2011

People's homes are sort of sacred, this is a non-issue. Many places still allow smoking in restaurants and workplaces, so homes are not even a topic.

I feel bad for kids in cars when there is someone smoking - it is a much smaller space, and the kids have no way to get away if they wanted to.

Baloney Amputation, BSN, LPN, RN · Mar 12, 2011

I had dozens of hospitalizations due to asthma attacks while my dad was smoking in the house when I was a child. Once he quit smoking and went to chewing tobacco, my hospitalizations for asthma attacks went down sharply. I don't think outlawing smoking around children would have done anything for me as far as day-to-day living in my house because he would have done it anyway, but at least someone would have had my back.

LaughingRN · Mar 12, 2011

I agree with Chin up, Because then we would have to make it illegal for

Children to live in a house where they are allowed to become overweight

Children to live in a house where parents consume more than 2 alcoholic beverages on any given day

Children who live in a home where..... (times infinite examples)

You really can't discriminate between various hazards to health (and to be honest the weight issue is probably more immediate and concerning)

Who would police such policies? Perhaps would could start a new branch of government called big brother....

For what it is worth, I think that smoking in a home with children is horrible, but education is the key :)

starzrn · Mar 12, 2011

No. Enough of government intruding into what they have no business intruding into. Period.

so as a nurse, we should just turn the other cheek?

I was in a home with a morbidly obese adult (doing a nursing visit). It was a small apartment, doors and windows closed. I went in and could barely see, the smoke was so thick. The patient had a caregiver who was also smoking in the home. I look over and there is this infant sitting in the playpen. I asked the pt if he could go outside to smoke and he said "i am not able to leave my home". So I wondered if this is just as bad as me seeing child abuse? I believe california and illinois you can get ticket for smoking in a car with a child...

starzrn · Mar 12, 2011

I had dozens of hospitalizations due to asthma attacks while my dad was smoking in the house when I was a child. Once he quit smoking and went to chewing tobacco, my hospitalizations for asthma attacks went down sharply. I don't think outlawing smoking around children would have done anything for me as far as day-to-day living in my house because he would have done it anyway, but at least someone would have had my back.

Me too! I have never smoked a day in my life, other than my dad smoking for me until I was 6... and the doctor told my mom my dad must smoke outside or it could really continue to harm me. i was rushed to the er so many times when i was little!

Baloney Amputation, BSN, LPN, RN · Mar 12, 2011

Me too! I have never smoked a day in my life, other than my dad smoking for me until I was 6... and the doctor told my mom my dad must smoke outside or it could really continue to harm me. i was rushed to the er so many times when i was little!

My dad found out fairly recently that he has alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, many years after he stopped smoking, so his few years of smoking did much more lung damage than it normally would to a normal person's lungs. I am lucky I don't have it (it's hereditary), because the second-hand smoke could have done far more damage to my lungs. Smoking sucks and can do incredible damage to the smoker and those around them, even if people don't want to admit it.

roser13, ASN, RN · Mar 12, 2011

"Should second-hand smoke be illegal in a home with children?"

Seriously? Do you want governmental intrusion into our homes?

CanuckLPN73 · Mar 12, 2011

No, it shouldn't be illegal, however education should be in place.

I smoke, and our home has always been nonsmoking, always will:yeah:. Wish we could say the same about our vehicle, although we did not smoke for the longest time in our vehicle, however we are guilty of smoking duirng long road trips and during cold weather as our children became older :eek: . Now we've cut back once again and try not to smoke when our kids are with us, however we haven't really been on any long road trips recently, hopefully by that time though Ill have quit :).

Jenni811, RN · Mar 12, 2011

I think smoking around children is terrible!!

I don't think you should ban parents from smoking, just not in the household.

It isnt fair to children who don't have a say in it, it's not like they have any other living situations to go to. So they are forced to stay in a home with smoke, or ride in a car with smoke.

I'm not a fan....sorry!