to hoik up my judgey pants at the parents smoking in the kids play area...

[RachelHRD]

Seriously do people really think it's acceptable to smoke in a children's playground?

She came in smoking and he is now sat on a bench puffing away on a roll up...

I'd hoped that the kids would be free from inhaling toxic smoke here!!

you do realize there is A LOT of fresh air there so it wont actually harm them dont you?

Depends on the set up. Some benches away from the equipment I can't see the problem.

Im with you; I often have to pick up cigarette ends from the sandpit before letting my kids loose, utterly ridiculous imo. I really dont know why they can`t be outside the boundary of the play area.

Hoik too high and you'll give yourself a well-deserved wedgie

There's two of them so they could easily go outside the play area.i just think a place specifically for children should be smoke free....

As for fresh air so car fumes and cig smoke don't affect peoples health because there's fresh air around - really??!!!

Btw I am an ex smoker and would never have lit up in s playground....

I agree with you tbh. It's just not something that looks very nice for the kids. In the same way sat with a beer can in a play ground wouldn't look nice either. I guess it would just be nice if no one cared anywhere else, if they could just care about littering a play ground. Just let the kids have somewhere clean and safe to play.

Where i live mums have been known to open a bottle of wine up and sip away while the kids play.
Nothing shocks me with some people any more.

Tealady my pants are too big to give a wedgie

'it wouldnt look nice for the kids'

lol...really,thats ridiculous.....poor little darlings cant cope with seeing that kind of thing? or a beer can?? hilarious!!

Clearly you haven't had to take your kids to parks where there's fag ends, and beer cans and vodka bottles and other general rubbish then. Cos no, it doesn't look nice. And yes they can cope but when it's at every bus stop, there's permanently crap wherever you go cos people are just filthy and can't use bins, don't you think it would just be nice for one place to be sacred. A play park? Seriously that's too much to ask??

I think certain places should be smoke free and childrens play areas fall into that category. I believe some areas have already banned smoking in play areas.

Another vote for smoke free playgrounds, I personally would want limited exposure to children at all times to avoid potential health implications and also as hopefully the less people they see smoking, the less they would be tempted to try it! I grew up with 2 smoking parents and all us children smoke, I've managed to quit and would not want children to accept it as the norm :(

As a non smoker i think YABU. Its outside where there is no restriction on smoking. Its not an enclosed space where the smoke is concentrated to where the dcs are.

OTOH if a parent is a smoker then taking the children to the park means that they are smoking outside, away from the children but able to supervise them and they're having fun.

Plus as a child we always thought the parent smokers look old and haggard and called them the fag ash group. I suspect its not glorifying smoking to your DC.

soulsister
"lol...really,thats ridiculous.....poor little darlings cant cope with seeing that kind of thing?"

What is ridiculous about not wanting children to see smoking as normal adult behaviour? The less exposure to smoking, the less likely they are to want to take it up themselves.

To those who think it's acceptable - would you also be happy if teacher's were lighting up in the school playground during breaks? It's pretty much the same.

There are restrictions on smoking outside - away from public buildings, designated smoking areas outside hospitals etc. Let's face it it's pretty horrid when you walk out of a building into a haze of smoke!!

I also grew up with parents who smoked and I ended up smoking too. My Mum died at 57 from smoking related cancer so I will be doing my damnedest to make sure I deter my kids from smoking and protecting them as much as possible from second hand smoke. Parents should be setting an example to their offspring......

Surely people can cope without a fag for half an hour /hour while they watch their kids play. It's not a long time. Have one on the way. Have one on your portch or in your garden before you leave but for gods sake at least let the park be fag free.

because its legal and it happens....you cant protect them from everything....just like people sitting with cans of beer!!

walk past a pub and there will be people outside smoking and drinking.....cover the little darlings eyes!

Again, kids are in the park for an hour. If you can't go that hour without sitting in the park mid morning with a can of beer then no I don't think your the kind of person my kids should have to meet down the park.

So should we ban people walking up the street having a smoke incase a child sees it and thinks its normal to smoke in the street?

Drinking a can of beer in a park may not be the greatest of example to set children but smoking there is completely unacceptable.

This annoys me almost as much as the woman the other day having a fag in the queue for the ice cream van outside the school.

begs the question, what kind of area do you live in?

ice cream is FULL of sugar,what on earth are they thinking with child obesity levels rising and having ice cream vans outside school??

I am with you on this one. I grew up with a father (and subsequently, stepfather) who smoked and a mother and brother with severe asthma. My father died at 53. If its not ok to smoke in a public building then why is it ok to smoke in a play park?