This is emotional blackmail. There must be laws against this, surely?

[D0oinMeCleanin]

I can have them grounded arrested or something, no?

I got a lovely glitter painting from my DC. It's of a no smoking sign and a dead person .

It has glitter gel pen writing on it.

It reads "Mammy, please stop smoking. It is bad for you. You will die a lot sooner than you normally would. It will make you really poorly. We don't want you to die [insert face with glitter tears]

People who want you to stop
[insert dd1, dd2 and DH's signature]

Me and dd2 and Daddy would want you to quit. It would make us very happy. We love you lots"

This is worse than those awful bloody adverts with the children.

Please tell me I can punish them? This is just wrong. Glitter should not be used this way.

[SpecialAgentTattooedQueen]

Your DH signed it too?

Perhaps he encouraged. If not, he clearly agrees you need to stop.

All the best. I know how debilitating addictions can be. Sneaky non-MN hug

[BeyonceCastle]

I don't smoke. I hate glitter.
I would do pretty much anything for my kids.
But if people attempt to blackmail me or force me into something it is
guaranteed to make me dig my heels in and have the opposite effect i.e. I would now be smoking twice as many childish, me?

Your DH put them up to it.

On another note I have noticed that ex-smokers always seem to be more evangelical about others quitting than non-smokers

[EhricLovesTeamQhuay]

Beyonce
That is because we have seen the light, realise how fucking stupid and pointless smoking is, and if we have actually found quitting easy (as opposed to horrendously hard as we assumed before we did it) we want to help others to escape the trap they are in.

[fortyplus]

Don't worry - tell them they'll be grown ups by the time you die - you're almost certain to make it to 50 so they'll inherit early and not have to be benefit scroungers

I'll take my tongue out of my cheek now...

Actually I didn't think it was funny when my dad died horribly struggling to breathe - having the gunge sucked out of his lungs at 72. His non-smoking brothers are still alive - 83 and 89 and fighting fit apart from the odd dodgy knee and arthritic fingers.

Electronic fags are about to be regulated as medicines so the contents will be more consistent than at present. They're still addictive of course but far less harmful than the real thing.

A friend who's a GP said everyone has a tale of their great grandad who smoked 50 a day and lived to 90, but fags contain far more dangerous chemicals now so premature death rates are higher and you can't tell whether you're one of those rare individuals whose body will tolerate the effects of smoking better than most.

It's not easy - my dad gave up smoking 17 years before he died and said it was the hardest thing he's ever done. He'd still caused untold damage but giving up when he did probably gave him an extra 10 years.

It's worth it OP - and think how much glitter you can buy with all the moneyyou save!

[JazzDalek]

You should quit, but you know that.

I do agree with the "you need to be really ready" line, but then, that can become its own problem - I used to decide to quit at least once a week, but as the date approached I'd get in a fankle thinking "but am I really ready? Is this the right time? There's no point trying now because I have x/y/z stressful event coming up! I'll wait till that's over with and then quit...." and so on. I am of the opinion that there will never really be a "right" time to quit, because the very nature of smoking addiction means that the thought of quitting panics us and we convince ourselves it is the wrong time.

E-cigs worked for me. They are utterly brilliant. I stopped smoking overnight using them, haven't missed it one little bit, and wouldn't touch proper smokes again with a bargepole.

[Purplefurrydice]

I don't think health warnings put smokers off as nobody cares about 100,000 anonymous smokers who die per year. However, what does matter is when someone close to you dies.

My mum died of lung cancer at 47. Two weeks after my 18th birthday. My brother was 15. My other told me she knew smoking was bad but thought people her age didn't get lung cancer. My dad died last year of a massive heart attack. He was 62.

However, a glitter corpse??? What's wrong with plain old nagging???

[Boosterseat]

I was a 20 a day smoker for ten years and have been on the ecigs for 8 weeks tommorow.

UK vaping forums are full of advice for people wanting to make a change to ecigs - variable voltage devices you fill yourself allow you to control the type of hit you get and you can buy nicotine liquid in a variety of flavours and strengths.

www.planetofthevapes.co.uk/ have a read here.

I couldn't get on with The Easy Way - but I'm now swapping between medium strength nicotine and no nicotine cartomizers with a view to stopping completely in the future.

[expatinscotland]

You are more likely to die earlier if you smoke, but it's not a certainty.

[hamilton75]

You are lucky to have such lovely children who clearly adore you.

Speaking as someone who lost a parent to a truly awful death from lung cancer at a fairly young age the question is this....

Do you love your kids more than you love yourself?

[expatinscotland]

Allan Carr didn't work for me, your daughter sounds like a disrespectful brat and my kids know better than to touch my Kindle.

[Sparklymommy]

My stepdad recently had a health scare. Not really related to his smoking but we used his smoking as a way of saying he had brought it on himself. He had smoked for forty years. Heavily.

I went out and bought him an e-cig. He didn't want to give up. Has always dug his heels in when we have tried to get him to. Since I bought him the e-cig 9 weeks ago he has not smoked a proper cigarette. Not one. The brand I got him has menthol, light and strong varieties.

Please give up. For your sake and that of your children.

[expatinscotland]

'My stepdad recently had a health scare. Not really related to his smoking but we used his smoking as a way of saying he had brought it on himself.'

That's really kind of you, to manipulate someone's fragile state after a health scare that wasn't even related to his habit.

No wonder why lung cancer is so poorly researched, even though a not insignificant number of people who develop it are not and have never been smokers or second hand smokers, and that number is rising. The stigma must be unbelievable. Bet most people think they brought it on themselves.

And no, I don't smoke.

[fortyplus]

expatinscotland GP friend said smoking 20 a day typically takes about 10 years off your life. So that's all right then.

[expatinscotland]

I never said it was, forty, it could, it couldn't take years off your life. Or you could get hit by a bus. The FACT is, a fact I'm very well aware of due to events in my life, is that none us know when or how we will die, only that it is a certaintly.

IMO, manipulating, blackmailing, emotionally fucking an adult is always wrong.

I'm an adult, I take actions and I take responsibility for them. I respect other adults similarly.

[fortyplus]

expat - I agree re the emotional blackmail - utterly wrong. But it pisses me off when people trot out the getting run over by a bus argument. When I cross the road I know that if I'm paying attention and being sensible it's remotely unlikely that I'll get hit by a bus. If I choose to spoke then I know it's certain to affect my health to some degree and likely to shorten my life, thereby depriving my family of the pleasure of my company!

[fortyplus]

Oops - smoke (but you knew that )

[expatinscotland]

'If I choose to spoke then I know it's certain to affect my health to some degree and likely to shorten my life, thereby depriving my family of the pleasure of my company!'

And adults are entitled to take that risk same as they are to cross a road, get into a car, go rockclimbing, bungee jump, go backpacking in far flung and possibly dangerous places and on and on, all of which have varying likelihoods of ending one's life, which will end at some point anyway.

Emotionally manipulating and blackmailing adults is, IMO, always wrong, for whatever reason, and disrespectful. I wouldn't do it to others, I respect their decision to do all kinds of things I find very stupid, and certainly wouldn't tolerate it being done to me.

[PrettyKitty1986]

There is a reason why ex smokers are more preachy about smoking than never-smokers. Because, as a never- smoker you will never understand...you are incapable of understanding.

How good the first cigarette of the day is. How social it is to be with other smokers, smoking. How it can ease boredom. How it can make the good times better and the bad times more easy to deal with. Smokers and ex-smokers are the only people that will understand that.

But it is only ex smokers who know how good it us to be free.

I have never met someone who regretted stopping. There are many who regret leaving it too late to quit.

[HeartsTrumpDiamonds]

Picking and sticking to my quit day (1 June) was easy because that was the day the DDs and I did the Race for Life for Cancer Research and I couldn't imagine skulking off behind the bushes for a fag when I has just been running to raise money for cancer. That thought was too humiliating even for me. It also helped that the day before was my birthday, so I felt like I had a good chance to celebrate and "say goodbye" to the smoking me. Hopefully forever.

[expatinscotland]

I regret quitting. I miss it. I enjoyed it. I wish I could still smoke.

And I despise preachiness.

[Tigerbomb]

OP - I admire your DC's ingenuity - glitter is just so eye catching

I really really miss smoking. I am now 104 days since my last cigarette and I still crave one.

This is the 4 or 5 time I have tried to give up (the 3rd or 4th time of using Champix) and the longest I have gone without a fag

It is hard.... especially if you dont want to give up. I knew the risks - Ive had three heart attacks and I still carried on smoking.

I haven't given up for me - I have given up for my kids. My dexh died last year at the age of 47 - smoking was a huge contributory factor. Hearing my son sobbing because he knew that it would probably also happen to me was the deciding factor.

My mantra is "Having one, won't stop me from wanting one" - it helps.

I think you have to do it for reasons that mean something to you... otherwise it wont work

[itsmyturnnow]

Good for your kids. I'm glad the tide is turning against smoking.

I hope you manage to give up - there's lots of help and support out there - so good luck!

[LetsFaceTheMusicAndDance]

What Antler said upthread is true, which makes the OPost all the sadder.

[Seriously2712]

My mum and step-dad smoked for years. Mum always trying to quit and step-dad saying he wasn't ready to do it just yet. When I was 15 and my sister just 7, (during one of mum's 'non-smoking' stints), my mum was a little tipsy one NYE and had a cigarette. My sister was distraught and stood there begging her not to do it. It was then I realised how hard it must be for SOME people to quit.
A few yrs after that, my step-dad decided he was ready and did it - never once looked back! (so proud of him!)
My mum still smokes, albeit only 5/6 a day. I have since come to realise she must get real pleasure/calming from it. So I don't bother lecturing anymore!
AND... She's hell to live with when she has tried to quit! ;o)

[Whatalotofpiffle]

Alan Carr easy way... Loved it