Written by Rupert Kircz| Tuesday, 08 November 2011| There is 1 comment
It is you quitting smoking!
So what presents are you going to get for your children this Christmas? Maybe a new computer, the latest Playstation or something similar? Well, there is something else you could give them which they would love much much more and which they would treasure for many many years!
It is you quitting smoking!
Research published by the UK Department of Health shows that over 50 percent of all children who have at least one parent who smokes say that their number one wish for Christmas is that either their mother or father gives up smoking.
When children were questioned 37 percent said that they would happily give up their Christmas presents in exchange for one of their parents quitting smoking. Added to this almost 60 percent said they would give up all their pocket money and almost 80 percent said they would do their homework every night and go to bed exactly on time should their parents quit.
Practically all parents claim that their children do not mind them smoking but 98 percent of those children who took part in this survey said that they wished their parents would quit, with 94 percent of them saying a smoking habit was either stupid or dangerous. Almost 1/3 of children said that they had at times tried to hide their parents' cigarettes to prevent them from smoking.
The children who took part in the study were between the ages of seven and thirteen and some of them have been used for billboard campaigns to encourage parents to quit smoking. The campaign which is being fronted by Linda Robson is designed to work on the assumption that parents need motivation to quit and the knowledge that their children are worried about them is a very strong motivating factor to help them.
Linda Robson who saw her own father die from lung cancer at the age of 57 said that it was a terrible experience and one that she would not want to put her own children through. She said that she had been motivated to quit smoking by thinking about what it would be like for her children to have to visit her in hospital.
Parents should also know that if they quit smoking they drastically reduce the chances of their children ever having a cigarette.
