to think that most parents who smoke now don't do so round their kids?

[ReputableBiscuit]

There seems to have been a cultural change over the past decade or so where parents who smoke are most likely to step outside to do it, whereas a generation ago they were more likely to spark up indoors? Am I right? Are more people acting to minimise their children's passive smoking?

DH smokes and I did also until 6 months ago. We always smoke outside and I am sure most intelligent people do. However I never hid the fact that we smoked from our kids. I have friends who hide their fags and sneak off like their kids are stupid and don't know. Doesn't seem to set a great example to me.

I still see an alarming number of people smoking in their cars with kids in the back, but among people I know who smoke (few) they all do go outside to smoke, yes.

Depends what you mean by around. I occasionally smoke and many of my friends and family are smokers. Dh is an irregular smoker like me. I don't smoke in the house, apart from odd one in the bathroom, but if we're all in the garden together or outside somewhere I would still smoke. So I do smoke with DC present but not indoors.

Most people I know that smoke, with or without DC go outside to smoke anyway, I think thats more of a change.

My neighbours smoke in their tiny walled yard with their DCs next to them. It amuses me that they hang their washing out in the fresh air then blow nasty smoke all over it

I smoke, I have a DS who is 3 and I have never smoked around him. I wish I hadn't picked the habit back up again after stopping BF, it was stupid. At home I go outside, the tobacco is kept out of sight. If I'm home alone with him, I'll only go out when he is engrossed in an activity and I can see him. If we're out with the car, I strap him in and smoke before I get in. If we're out without the car, I won't smoke until we get home.

I'm not one for smoking in public anyway and will usually find a quiet place or designated smoking area.

It doesn't get rid of the problem. smoker exhale toxins and shed them from their clothes for more than 12 hours after smoking.

I agree with you. I think more people smoke outside in general though which might be why the shift. Obviously people do still smoke in their homes, but it's much less common. In the 80s and 90s when I was growing up I remember my mum smoking in the house but she stopped smoking inside sometime in the early 00's.

Alls that's not correct, you exhale toxins for 30 minutes, after that nothing. It might stay on clothes for longer, though.

I don't think that is right, BertieBotts, look at the cot death research, cot deaths are linked to co sleeping with smoker parents many hours after the parents last smoked. ( The most common cause of cot death) Because the toxins are still being exhaled at night, after a cigarette smoked during the day.

Hmm... At least here in the US growing up, I remember family smoking outside even at their own house. I think it has to do with the shift of laws prohibiting indoor smoking at restaurants and bars here due to people finding out the risks of emphysema and second hand smoke. We also have warnings on our cig boxes which is stupid since everyone knows smoking is bad for you.

I don't even need to look that up to know it's not true, because cot death is a name for a death of a baby where the source is unknown.

Yes there is a correlation with parents who smoke and of course it's a valid theory that the two things are linked, but the point is that they don't know what causes cot death.

Don't be such a pratt Bertiebotts.

The fact is , whether it gets an official diagnosis or not, cot death is now virtually unknown in nonsmoking households, in the west, and smoking "away from the baby" makes little difference.

babies die of cot death if their parents smoke, and particularly if they co sleep within the next 12+ hours.

You not looking it up makes absolutely not one whit ofdifference to that fact.

One of my friends has recently moved her new dp into her home. She has 3 dc's already and is expecting her 4th, to whom the new dp is the father. He smokes in the house, garden and also in the car with her 3dc's in if too. It makes me sad.

AllsFair, I don't know the statistics, but I know two families who lost babies to cot death, and neither of the parents in either family has ever smoked. I believe there is a link between smoking and cot death, but I don't believe it is so clear.

My next door neighbour smokes in the house with her dc in, but then again she was quite happy for her, then, 13 year old ds to start smoking.

Dd1 has had a couple friend sleeping over, and im assuming their parents smoke in the house too as they stunk of smoke.

I live in a poor part so I guess it more prevalent here?

My next door neighbour smokes in the house with her dc in, but then again she was quite happy for her, then, 13 year old ds to start smoking.

Dd1 has had a couple friend sleeping over, and im assuming their parents smoke in the house too as they stunk of smoke.

I live in a poor part so I guess it more prevalent here?

I lost a baby to SIDS and didn't smoke so please get your facts right.

I'm a respite coordinator and I see loads of parents smoking around their children. It feels like I am stepping in to a smokey cloud when I go into some houses. It's very sad and makes me angry, although I'm supposed to keep those opinions to myself.

There's two mothers sit in their cars smoking outside the school gate waiting for their children (one on the hatched yellow lines and with a baby in the car). The children come out of school and jump into the smoke filled car. It must be lovely for them.

When I was growing up (many more than 10 years ago), loads of my relatives smoked and they would never even have considered going outside to do so. I used to hate visiting their houses because they stank so badly. (Apart from my grandad who smoked a pipe - loved the smell of pipe smoking!). My parents were very unusual in not smoking.

Now I can't think of a single person I know who does smoke. Everyone I know who did has given up. I think banning smoking in public places was a fantastic thing which should have been done sooner - I wonder if we will get a total ban on smoking in the next decade or so?

Smoking anywhere near children is child cruelty. Anyone who thinks otherwise is stupid.

adsy, I am sorry for your loss. As I said in my post, VIRTUALYY unknown, not totally unknown. With MOST (not all) lost babies now, can get a diagnosis made PM. Almost all those who can't have a parent who smoked the day they died.

I do frequent home visits to families that need support and I've haven't noticed any difference. Ask any teacher and they'll tell you the children of smokers smell of smoke themselves, as do their bags, books and coats

Interesting responses, thanks.

I remember there was a documentary a few years back about a single mother in NE Scotland (maybe it was that BBC3 thing where they age-progressed your kids to shock you into realising their lives weren't healthy?) and she was depressed and just stayed in her flat all the time, smoking around her kids. I think they said the passive smoking amounted to the equivalent of the toddler smoking a certain proportion of the fags she did - so if she smoked 30 a day, he 'smoked' six a day or something like that.

Well my mum smoked around me and my sister and still does, as well as my grandmother. They also smoked in the car. Obviously, we're adults now. I would not smoke indoors with my dc. I would go outside, or into an outhouse when we get one! I know the dangers of smoking and it really is a disgusting habit. I wouldn't want my children smelling it or breathing it in!

I still see parents pushing their babies in a buggy and smoking over them, it makes me cross.