• health

• parenthood

Has your child started smoking?

This is the step that will help him stop

2 out of 3 boys who have tried cigarettes are addicted to smoking.

Parents who want to help their child quit smoking have something to do - a smoking cessation counselor explains what the most effective step you can take

Tags

• smoking

• Smoking rehab

• Cigarettes

• Teens

• parenthood

Eliran Turgeman

Wednesday, 14 July 2021, 07:34

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Towards the end of a shift at the Ministry of Health's call center, the phone rings and from the other line a feminine and worried voice.

Already at the beginning of the conversation, the woman tells about her 15-year-old daughter, a quiet girl, an outstanding student and surrounded by friends.

Recently, the mother said, all sorts of worrying signs have begun: the girl spends a lot of time outside the house, asks for money often and is absent from school.

When she entered the house, she quickly went up to her room and behind her a trail of cigarette smell.

At first she lied and told that her friend started smoking, but after her mother found a rolling bag in her bag, she broke down and admitted.

The mother's worried voice as she told the story made me ask her "why does it bother you so much that she smokes?"

And immediately she replied, "I do not want my daughter to be bound to cigarettes like me and my husband."

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So what if they smoke?

Smoking unlike other boy experiences is fixed and stays.

A huge international research collection of 215,000 participants showed that 2 out of 3 boys who tried one cigarette, became addicted to smoking.

It is currently the most addictive drug in the world, certainly in terms of its prevalence and prevalence.

Therefore, the experience of adolescence becomes in most cases a dependency that accompanies the person for years to come.

Even children who are well aware of the harms of smoking are addicted to cigarettes.

Smoking girl (Photo: ShutterStock)

Smoking is not only the number one cause of death and illness in old age, it is also a burden on the back of the boy in the decade in which he is building his future. Smokers' ability to concentrate and pay attention decreases as time passes from the last cigarette, which affects the matriculation exams, the formation days in the army, the psychometric tests and the job interviews. Not only that, the financial burden at an age where there is not much income, a decrease in physical fitness, even the ability to find a good relationship decreases when 76 percent of young people prefer a non-smoking spouse. But how do you talk about it?

Give a personal example

back to our story, when I asked the worried mother what she did, she said she told her daughter, "Don't make the mistake we made." Strange how children of smoking parents who are well aware of the harm and receive this message, smoke in significantly higher percentages. I mentioned to the mother that the mistake they made in the past is also made in the present, however the good news is that an adult who stops smoking reduces his son's chances of starting smoking on his own.

Do not cooperate and do not accept the situation

Many parents are not satisfied with their children's smoking but allow them to smoke around the house, buy them cigarettes and cover them at school thinking that it is better for them to smoke at home and not on the street.

Addiction does not come to a cure when there is a reconciliation with the existing situation.

The message to the child in this behavior is: "It's okay that you smoke" and it deepens the acceptance of the existing situation and encourages it.

Do not cooperate with the existing situation.

Smoking in the family (Photo: ShutterStock)

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Do not scold and do not prove, just ask and be interested and

if we go back to our case again, the mother said that the more she told her house about the harms of smoking so the girl began to resist, deny and excuse.

Teens are well aware that smoking is not good for them. So all you have to do is ask and listen while giving respect and empathy. Teens do not like to be dug up, but they like to be interested in without criticism or judgment. Many studies show that we think what we say, so the more we encourage the boy to say the disadvantages of smoking the more we will be motivated to change.

Start with questions about smoking friends.

What do they gain and lose from it? Are they addicted to cigarettes? Conversation about another person is less threatening and stressful and it is often easy for us to criticize other people.

Ask them about their smoking habits.

Start with what do they get out of it?

Is what they received in the beginning still relevant?

Do smoking have disadvantages?

Talking about the benefits of smoking will allow our child to feel safe to tell about the disadvantages of smoking as well.

Trust them that they know and recognize these shortcomings.

If there are any shortcomings that you are not sure about, offer to start a Google search and investigate.

Most teens try to stop or reduce smoking at some point.

A boy breaks a cigarette (Photo: ShutterStock)

Ask if they have tried to quit smoking in the past or tried to reduce it?

What were the reasons that made them try?

What did they do and what happened when they stopped?

Most teens try to quit or control smoking at some point, talking about the past is less threatening than talking about the present.

If the boy indicates that he wants to quit smoking but is not successful on his own, it is time to offer him help or guidance by professionals in the field.

And back to our story, the mother, father and daughter came in to accompany us and to our joy stopped smoking.

When I asked them what keeps them on break?

Each of them individually stated that he was doing it together with his family.

The parents did it for their child, and their daughter testified that she did it for her parents.

The author accompanies organizations and schools in promoting smoking cessation processes on behalf of the Medical Society for Smoking Cessation and a smoking cessation consultant at the National Call Center of the Ministry of Health.

To contact the Ministry of Health's call center 6800 * or on the website

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