Stub
It Out! Stop Your Teen Smoking
You've found cigarettes in your teenager's pocket. How can you stop
her smoking?
This
is one of the most difficult problems for parents of teenagers. They know
the risks but still they do it. It's the peer group, stupid!
Heard
it all before
She knows the risks to her health, she knows it's a filthy habit, she
knows it stains her teeth and the rest, but none of it seems to have any
effect. Who smokes - and why they do - is a mystery. The children of non-smokers
smoke, the children of heavy smokers don't. The influence of friends appears
to be more important than family.
Talk
to her
Don't describe the terrible things that will happen to her at 50 - 30
seems ancient to her and 50-plus is really out of the frame. Don't lecture
or nag, however strongly you feel. Try to talk to her calmly and use arguments
she might just respond to. Concentrate on immediate rewards - money saved
for other (nicer) treats, sparkling teeth and fresh-smelling clothes.
Make the point that if she gets hooked now, she'll definitely want to
give up in five years. She ought to recognise the truth in this. The longer
she smokes, the more difficult quitting will be. Some politically-conscious
teens are susceptible to arguments about the profits that big business
reaps from weak-willed teenagers.
Try
bribery
Some parents find bribery works. A friend promised her son a large sum
of money on his 18th birthday on the assumption that if he could last
until then, he was unlikely to start later. Not a cast-iron guarantee
since many students start to smoke at university, but generally, the later
they start the less likely they are to continue.
An
alternative approach:
Work out what it costs her to smoke every week and do a deal with her
that she will break the habit in a month. For the first week, each day
she puts the money she saves into a pot and you match the amount. In the
second week, you give double the amount she saves. In week three, three
times and in week four, four times the amount saved. At the end of four
weeks she will have amassed a tidy sum and broken the smoking habit.
If
she smokes in the four weeks, she forfeits the lot and you pocket it!
This approach only works if she has a commitment to give up and saving
money is the right incentive for her.
Generally
Make it difficult for her. Don't allow
her to smoke in the house. Refuse to subsidise her smoking and dock her
allowance by the sum she spends on cigarettes.
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