If all fails, try a straightforward reward or bribe...

The reason why parents should be so wary about their children smoking is not really about the cigarettes harming them and making them ill at present but because by smoking at a young age it is very likely they will get addicted and this addiction could mean that they smoke for the rest of their life.

The fact is that very few people get ill from smoking when they are in their teens and their early twenties but what these people do not realise is that what they are doing is setting themselves up to get serious illnesses when they are older. Not only this but they are also accelerating their aging process which could lead them to end up looking much older than they really are.

It is a bit difficult to drum into teenagers that they shouldn’t smoke now because of future health problems. It is a bit like attempting to convince them that they should save their cash and put it into a pension plan. When you are young you only think of the moment and of the present and your health in fifteen or twenty years time is really not part of the picture, but nevertheless parents must try to impress on their children how important their future health is.

One of the news writers in the Ukmedix newsroom says that at the age of eighteen he was a budding smoker and his parents took him into the cancer ward at a hospital and being able to see these chronically ill people with lung cancer was enough to make him quit the habit for good.

Another thing to be aware of is that by smoking, young people will not be able to participate as effectively in sports and games at school and university. It should be stressed to teenagers that by smoking they are not gaining anything but they are cutting out a huge area of potential in their lives.

If all fails try a straightforward reward or bribe depending on what you want to name it! Why not tell your children that if they get to the age of 30 without becoming smokers you will reward them with a substantial financial gift or a brand new car! While some people may think that this diminishes the individual responsibility of the child it is a very effective way of making sure that they don’t smoke and the chances are that they will end up thanking you!