Smoking and healthy?!


Question: I am still a teen and my dad smokes. Every time I tell him the risks, he says it makes him want to smoke more. I am always breathing in smoke from his and my step moms cigarrettes. My dad is not going to quit. Neither is my stepmom. How can I be healthy in that house? They wont even try to keep the smoke away from me. They will just do it right beside me and it wont matter. What can I do? I have talked and it wont work. They say it is like taking my computer, tv, and/or games away from me. I really need help. By the way, I have tried masks. My dad just yells at me about wearing them.


Answers: I am still a teen and my dad smokes. Every time I tell him the risks, he says it makes him want to smoke more. I am always breathing in smoke from his and my step moms cigarrettes. My dad is not going to quit. Neither is my stepmom. How can I be healthy in that house? They wont even try to keep the smoke away from me. They will just do it right beside me and it wont matter. What can I do? I have talked and it wont work. They say it is like taking my computer, tv, and/or games away from me. I really need help. By the way, I have tried masks. My dad just yells at me about wearing them.

In this situation, your options are limited. As long as your dad and step mom continue to be stubborn about their habit, there aren't many things that you can do about it. However, here are some tips to help limit your exposure to the secondhand cigarette smoke.

Spend as much time outside of your house as you possibly can. Hang out with your friends during the day and sleep over at their houses at nights. Even if your friends smoke, which I'm sure some of them do, they shouldn't be as stubborn about smoking as your dad and step mom are. They shouldn't have any problem stepping outside to light up. Even if you are sleeping over at their house, they will do everything possible to make you comfortable, including not smoking in their bedroom while you are there. Hang out at the mall and other places that don't allow smoking. If your friend does have to smoke around you, try to be outside. The smoke won't be confined to one area. You may end up taking a few breaths of their secondhand smoke, but it beats being trapped in an enclosed room filled with smokers. Basically, unless you absolutely have to, avoid being in your house at all times.

When you absolutely have to be in your house, limit yourself to one room, your bedroom. Keep you door closed and your windows open (unless someone is smoking right outside of your window, in that case close the window.) Under no circumstances should any burning cigarettes be let inside your room. Even if one of you smoking friends comes over, send them to another room to smoke. And be careful about letting smokers into your room period. If they just finished smoking, the smell will be strong enough to fill your bedroom, even when they are not actively smoking around you.

Keep a wet towel around the cracks in your door. This will keep the smoke from coming into your room. The towel needs to be wet to absorb the smoke, otherwise, the smell will just pass through the towel. You will probably have to close off all the air vents to your room. This may make the temperature in your room uncomfortable, but with a house full of smokers, you can bet that he air coming out of the vents is nothing but pure cigarette smoke.

Keep your door closed at all times and try to prevent bringing anything that smells like smoke into your room. This may be hard with your clothes, especially when you spend time walking around you house. Leave any items of clothing that smell strongly of cigarettes outside of you room. I have known people who put a certain outfit on whenever they leave the room, so they only contaminate one article of clothing with smoke. When your clothes are done being washed, get them into you room as quickly as possible. Every second that they are exposed to the smoke, the stronger that they will smell, and the more smoke will be exposed into your room.

One last tip.... Since your room has been filled with smoke for so long, you will need to wash everything. And I mean everything. Your bed, your clothes, your curtains, your carpet.... You will also have to scrub down all the walls and the ceiling too. It will take time, but when you finish, your room will smell like it was never smoked in. And if you want to keep it that way, don't let anyone light up a cigarette in you room ever!

I wish you the best of luck and the best of health! And don't start smoking!

Terrible problem for you!! My gosh, they should go outside and smoke just to keep it away from YOU!! There should be a law against it, but there's not...

I smoke, but I always go outside for my kids, because I don't want them or their things smelling like smoke and cuz I don't want them inhaling it.

When you are 18, move out!

I think it's terrible and trashy to smoke in the house when you have kids living there. Sorry, but it hits close to home... Maybe have your dad take you to the doctor and bring it up in front of the doctor, and have the doc explain how bad it is for you.... MAYBE THEN HE'LL GET IT!!!!!

This is child abuse. They are purposely exposing you to their unhealthy smoke. Yes, second hand smoke is a horrible health risk for anyone who is as exposed as you are.

A passive-aggressive way to get them to at least not smoke around you, might be to start coughing uncontrollably whenever they light up. If your dad is still being a jerk and getting mad at you, tell him you're sensitive to smoke and if he didn't smoke, you wouldn't cough. If it continues, talk to your school nurse and ask her advise. By law she has to report abuse of any kind, and she may believe this is an abusive situation. If your parents have to go to court, believe me the judge will side with you and order your parents to stop smoking in the house/around you.

There is not a lot you can do at this point until you move out and get a place of your own. Try and air out your own room (or the house) as much as possible. This may not be practical if you live in a hostile climate.

Not smoking yourself will help.

Your Dad is a goose for being in denial about the risks and you could say disrespectful towards you for ignoring your concerns.

Understand that nicotine is stupidly addictive and many folks cannot stop even if they want to so they tend to make a 1000 excuses as to why they will be ok, or how they could quit but don't want too etc.

good luck, you are young and your body will repair, although you are obviously at greater risk or addiction and health issues due to your living environment.

well im a smoker myself, and quite young. only 16.
and personally i would like to quit, but it's just too hard.
im really sorry that your father gets mad at you about telling him the risks, but the thing is every smoker knows the risks.
and we get sick of here about them.
do we care?
yes and no, i hate it when people tell me im going to get cancer.
but the fact is everyday i freak out, i don't want to get cancer, it scares me half to death.
so why don't i quit?
im addicted. its tough, and withdraw from nicotine is a pain in the butt. it sucks, and you're miserable.

anyway, you're doing a good job on your part. at least i know that you hate smoking enough to not start. just try not to worry about it too much. yes smoke smells awful to those who don't smoke, but don't spend time obsessing over something that you can't control: like your dad's addiction to nicotine.
yes it still is harmful, but you're not the one inhaling the nasty smoke. so you're a hell of a lot healthier.
and remember you wont be in that house forever, you'll eventually move out.

i hope this helped!

first of all smoking isn't like taking games away because games aren't bad for your health. I know it sounds crazy, but have you thought of sacrificing your tv/comp or games for a while to prove your point? say to them fine you can take them away if you stop smoking. Other than that i don't know what you could do, your parents sound really stubborn, and it's not fair to you. I guess all you can do is keep trying. Or walk away whenever they light up.





The consumer health information on answer-health.com is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions.
The answer content post by the user, if contains the copyright content please contact us, we will immediately remove it.
Copyright © 2007-2011 answer-health.com -   Terms of Use -   Contact us

Health Categories