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

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What do you think?

Specializes in Med surg, LTC, Administration.
I gave that link to show that it's not impossible to inforce a law for children and smoking.

That link did not show anything. Again, you are raising straw men and knocking them down. I tried to be nice in my last post, but you would rather a child not have a good home, than have one. There are great foster parents who smoke, yet, no kids for them, keep them in smoke free orphanages. That is what you are saying. That baby who loves his mother more than anything, you would rather he be torn from her, because she smokes. You don't think that does more harm? Believe it or not, smokers love their kids more than you do. Those same kids, love their parents and dont want to be separated from them.

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They may love their kids, but do they love them enough to stop poisoning them?

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Hey, what do I know. I grew up in a home full of smoke, lived in a house full of lead paint and was surrounded by cars spewing leaded gas. When my mother took me to the doctors, he smoked as he spoke to my mom about my health. When we visited my nana in a nursing home, the nurses smoked at the nurse station. When I became a teen, I put leaded lipstick on, foundation with embalming fluid and nail polish with formaldehyde. I sat on grass full DDT and drank from bottles full BPH. Because I wanted to be thin, I drank copious amounts of Tab soda. Oh, I am also a DES girl, never wore a seatbelt and never sat in a baby seat...I am surprised I am still alive..

Seriously, we get it. I would hope parents do right by their kids, but just because some don't, it does not mean a law has to be made. There are great parents who smoke and horrible parents who don't. Do we take away their children and put them in foster care...do we tell pregnant smokers to get an abortion...you can't put people in a bubble. Life is a set of choices...ours...and it is called free will. People make good and bad choices everyday, that is life. Until perfection arrives, live and let live.

Excellent post!!

I remember my 13th birthday going to a teenclub (had to be under 18 to get in), they sold cigarettes! We bought a pack of Menthol and smoked the entire pack between 5 or 6 of us girls, hoping that my mom wouldn't be able to smell the smoke on us, needless to say I didn't realize that she wasn't as stupid as I thought ;). A year or so later I was a full fledged smoker and I was a Christmas or Birthday gift was a carton of cigarttes, DuMaurier :D.

Fast Forward to the year 2011, I now have teenagers, and could not in this life time even comprehend buying them a pack of smokes let alone a carton :eek: !!

Times have changed, thanks to education. Things will continue to change, not to shoving things down peoples throats and forcing change, but to education :)

Oh yes by the way, I smoked during my pregancies, not the smartiest idea, however my children were nearly 10lbs and healthy!! If I could do it over though I would hope that I could quit.

I had one drink during one of my pregnancies not realizing at the time that I was pregnant. The baby was fine.

After having one of my children the doctor suggested to try malt beer (breast feeding), don't know if it worked, nearly made me puke though :o.

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Specializes in Med surg, LTC, Administration.
http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-07-00-00601.pdf

There is no one offering excess foster placements. In fact, there is a deficit. Please do a simple amount of research before suggesting that we remove children from their families.

If you really researched this...you would never suggest it as a solution to such a gray area issue.

To do unofficial research, simply Google "lack of foster care homes"

Wow, such an awesome resource. I suggest required reading for some of the outrages claims being posted. Thank you!

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That link did not show anything. Again, you are raising straw men and knocking them down. I tried to be nice in my last post, but you would rather a child not have a good home, than have one. There are great foster parents who smoke, yet, no kids for them, keep them in smoke free orphanages. That is what you are saying. That baby who loves his mother more than anything, you would rather he be torn from her, because she smokes. You don't think that does more harm? Believe it or not, smokers love their kids more than you do. Those same kids, love their parents and dont want to be separated from them.

What the link shows is that my first thought of wondering if it should be illegal is not so far-fetched as some may think.

Do you hear what you are saying? If my kid wanted me more than anything...could I not make a sacrifice to stop smoking...especially if I am causing harm to them?

I would not want the baby torn from her, of course not, but why in the world would that parent not stop for that child?

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Specializes in ER.

Do you hear what you are saying? If my kid wanted me more than anything...could I not make a sacrifice to stop smoking...especially if I am causing harm to them?

I would not want the baby torn from her, of course not, but why in the world would that parent not stop for that child?

And again we come a full circle.

You are judging the ability to love based off of such small parameters.

Of course the parent that smokes almost always loves their child fiercely. Such as the parent that raises an overweight child for that matter....

I think that you lack anger in your campaign for the child with allergies whose parents refuses to get rid of their family pet that they owned for ten years. You lack anger for the 8 year old that weighs over 1 hundred pounds that is short of breath walking up a flight of stairs. It upsets me to a certain degree that these children don't seem to matter in this discussion. You are arbitrarily deciding who is a "bad" person and who isn't.

Foster care is not a viable solution..therefore you are left with almost no viable solution for this cause.

Change the focus of your passion to discussing a specific child abuse law.

For example, try to start a discussion where a documented case of smoking in ones home is putting a particular child's life at risk. Like a child that is asthmatic and has been hospitalized numerous times and the situation is exacerbated by the child being sent home in an unsafe environment. You may actually find that this type of discussion does not elicit such opposing responses.

Try not to focus on generalizations. Since, as nurses, we all know how far generalizations take us....

Again (and for the last time from me on this thread)

Education is the key. It seems that you won't even consider this, entertain this, or try this idea

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And again we come a full circle.

You are judging the ability to love based off of such small parameters.

Of course the parent that smokes almost always loves their child fiercely. Such as the parent that raises an overweight child for that matter....

I think that you lack anger in your campaign for the child with allergies whose parents refuses to get rid of their family pet that they owned for ten years. You lack anger for the 8 year old that weighs over 1 hundred pounds that is short of breath walking up a flight of stairs. It upsets me to a certain degree that these children don't seem to matter in this discussion. You are arbitrarily deciding who is a "bad" person and who isn't.

Foster care is not a viable solution..therefore you are left with almost no viable solution for this cause.

Change the focus of your passion to discussing a specific child abuse law.

For example, try to start a discussion where a documented case of smoking in ones home is putting a particular child's life at risk. Like a child that is asthmatic and has been hospitalized numerous times and the situation is exacerbated by the child being sent home in an unsafe environment. You may actually find that this type of discussion does not elicit such opposing responses.

Try not to focus on generalizations. Since, as nurses, we all know how far generalizations take us....

Again (and for the last time from me on this thread)

Education is the key. It seems that you won't even consider this, entertain this, or try this idea

Education...absolutely!! I totally agree that this is part of it.

If I saw a parent drunk and then hop in the car with a child, I would feel the same way! Would i want to report it? Yes. You can't tell me that those people don't know better, that they haven't been educated on drinking and driving already, and yet it still happens...so there has to be some laws somewhere.

If a child can't breathe because of a pet and I saw that...I would be just as heartbroken! Animals shouldn't come before a human life.

The obesity in america concerns me greatly...but the 8 year old puts the food in their mouth. I don't think the parent sits there and forces them to keep eating donuts until they see the scale go up...come on...there is a huge difference between a baby in a crib who has no choice vs an 8 year old that at least has a few more choices.

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What the link shows is that my first thought of wondering if it should be illegal is not so far-fetched as some may think.

Do you hear what you are saying? If my kid wanted me more than anything...could I not make a sacrifice to stop smoking...especially if I am causing harm to them?

I would not want the baby torn from her, of course not, but why in the world would that parent not stop for that child?

The thing is though, one could say...if that parent really loves that child why wouldn't they not quit smoking so that they would be around to live for that child to see them graduate, to see them marry, to see them have children?

One can ask many questions like that, however those questions are not fair as smoking is an addiction.

As someone who did quit for quite a few years (before relapsing) I need to disagree with you. I think quitting for one's children (spouse, parent, friend, etc) is the worst thing to do! Personally, and maybe this is selfish, however just my personal opinion, the best thing to do is to quit for one's self, not for one's child!

If someone is going to quit smoking or any other addiction for that matter then they need to quit for themselves (because they want to) not because of another person (because another person wants them to), regardless of whom the other person is, as from my understanding the person will not be as successful, as if they were quitting for themselves :)

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The thing is though, one could say...if that parent really loves that child why wouldn't they not quit smoking so that they would be around to live for that child to see them graduate, to see them marry, to see them have children?

One can ask many questions like that, however those questions are not fair as smoking is an addiction.

As someone who did quit for quite a few years (before relapsing) I need to disagree with you. I think quitting for one's children (spouse, parent, friend, etc) is the worst thing to do! Personally, and maybe this is selfish, however just my personal opinion, the best thing to do is to quit for one's self, not for one's child!

If someone is going to quit smoking or any other addiction for that matter then they need to quit for themselves (because they want to) not because of another person (because another person wants them to), regardless of whom the other person is, as from my understanding the person will not be as successful, as if they were quitting for themselves :)

I appreciate your honesty. By all means, quit for yourself too...but in the meantime...can you smoke outside if you have children in the home?

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can you smoke outside if you have children in the home?

:confused:

Have you read any of my posts??

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:confused:

Have you read any of my posts??

yup:confused:

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:confused:

Have you read any of my posts??

yup:confused:

:confused:

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