Did anyone else's parents smoke in the house

[Hernamewaslola22]

I sort of can't believe they did really. This wasn't years and years ago either, 90s and early 00s. How could they be so selfish?

Yes throughout the 70s and 80s even into the early 90s

It was quite normal back then.

Lambasting it as selfish is looking at it through todays eyes and just silly.

I can relate to this.

I remember colds, coughs and throat infections going on forever when I was a child. I'd be sniffing, congested and coughing for weeks and my parents would just say "what are you sniffing and barking (cough) for?" They didn't seem to make the connection.

I haven't lived in a smoke filled atmosphere for over 30 years now and things are better, but I still dread getting colds and any other respiratory infections as they go on for so long with me. Not sure my lung capacity is the best either, although I am fine most of the time.

My Dad died after the worsening of his COPD. My Mum also has COPD although she tried to hide it from my sister and I. However, I found out because she asked me to read some post to her which she couldn't decipher because of her badly deteriorating eyesight.

I'm just hoping that COPD is not too common in second hand smokers, because my sister and I had no choice over that.

My parents have never smoked but my auntie and uncle did in the house, and my grandad. Was very normal.

@Clumsy12345 I think you are misremembering that scenario as it was illegal to sell cigarettes to children under the age of 16 from 1992.

But then maybe your corner shop just acted illegally.

Yes. Not just my parents either - grandparents would come round and smoke, and other relatives.

I remember visiting grandparents on Sundays and there would be 5 adults in a small front room all smoking, it was grim. I didn't know about the health implications then but hated the fact that my clothes stunk constantly.

Yes, pretty heavily. And in the car. This would have been the 80s/90s. Our living room was small and I can recall an aunt and uncle visiting who also smoked, and literally my eyes stinging and watering so badly I couldn't focus on my colouring in!
The only reason it stopped in the house was to prevent the paintwork yellowing and needing decorating more often.
My eyes are supersensitive (ocular rosacea since aged 18 or so). Not sure if there's a link.

I remember an occasion where my mum sent me down the village shop some time in the early 90's with a little shopping list, one of the items on the list was a pack of cigars for my grandpa for his birthday and the shop owners were horrified! They obviously refused to sell my any cigars, my mother was very put out as "obviously" they weren't for me!

Would you say the same about parents feeding their kids UPF and other crap though? They know it's full of sugar and other bad ingredients. But parents are still feeding them to kids now. People know it causes obesity and diabetes etc and generally aren't doing the kids any good. So are these people also pretty dim or too selfish to care?

I was born in the late 1950's, both parents smoked heavily and there were numerous ashtrays scattered around the house with various amounts of cigarette butts and ash in them, absolutely disgusting and I hated the smell from them. We didn't own a car but my father used to hire one whenever we went to visit my grandparents, who all lived 200+ miles away. They both used to smoke in the car as well, which always made me ill - my mum would bring a potty for me to be sick in. I must have reeked of stale smoke as well, although as most people in the 60's and 70's seemed to smoke it probably wasn't as noticeable as it would be today.
Additionally, because my father was a selfish, inconsiderate and impatient man, whenever we travelled to visit my grandparents in the hired car he would not stop at a service station or layby if I needed a wee, so I had to balance on the potty I had invariably already been sick in, on the back seat - no seatbelt - for a wee. It took me ages to relax enough to be able to do one!

Of course they all amoked in the house! All the adults in my life in the 50s, 60s & 70s smoked. Even worse, they'd light up as soon as they got in the car and the smell of smoke and leather makes me feel sick to this day

Unnecessarily rude...

Yes, I would say the same about parents who feed their kids large amounts of junk food.
The reason I am still annoyed at my parents about it all these years on is that they knew I hated it, they knew the smell make me gag, they saw me coughing and spluttering while they smoked next to me, and I begged them to smoke outside or stick to one room so I could avoid it, and they didn’t do anything to make our home environment slightly more pleasant for me.

Yes and in the car. I was born in 1988. The smoking ban only came in around 2007. I remember going to a Harvester type pub for dinner where they asked my parents (with 4 children in tow) whether they wanted to be seated in the smoking or non smoking area.

When my sister had the first grandchild in 2010, my Dad stopped smoking in the house without being asked too. It's funny how quickly it changed.

Yes. It was bloody horrible. I developed asthma.

Yep it was very standard then. I didn't like it either.

But no point in dwelling on this now, better to focus on making life better in the here and now

My mam did, and all my dad's side did growing up in the 80s/90s.

DM still did in her rented flat, although she kept it to the kitchen. After she passed away we cleaned the place up, the kitchen being the worst part to clean.

My dad still does, although only when it's just him. If we visit he'll stand at his door. Not that it matters, clothes etc still stink after we've been round.

My Grandad's funeral, mid 90s, they had the wake in his local afterwards. I was 13 so tucked away in the corner. I remember standing up to go to the toilet and my head went up into a cloud of smoke that was hanging in the air across the whole room. Smoking didn't carry the same stigma it does now.

Yes and other kids would comment on how strong my uniform would smell when I was in junior school, very embarassing. My grandparents smoked like chimneys in the house too and the smell of a smoky house reminds me of them which is a bit sad. Sitting in the back of a car with someone smoking in the front you'd get ash landing on you. Even back then we knew it was full of poison and gives you cancer, there isn't really an excuse other than laziness at not wanting to stand outside

My Dad did. House and us used to stink of stale smoke.

He was a lovely man but smoking was his one selfish thing. He even smoked in the car on the way to take me to an urgent hospital appointment when I had a throat thing and could barely breathe. He just didn't consider anyone else re the smoking.

He died of lung cancer 20 years ago.

This. 'Can you believe my parents let me have a phone that fucked up my brain chemistry? How selfish!' Etc.

Yes my stepF, now ex stepF thankfully, didn't give a shit. He smoked in the house and worse, in the car and we weren't allowed to open the windows as the air annoyed him. Bastard. Not sorry he had a heart attack in his fifties.

Friends of mine have always smoked in the house. They're very well off but clearly have no class and have smoked indoors before their child was born and still do now 16 years later.

Exactly

DHs parents and family were all heavy smokers. Coming into the 90s a lot of them gave up, including his mum.
His dad continued though. They were obsessed with no opening windows and I got ill so many times after staying at theirs, only years later did DH agree it was the smoking. His dad was incredibly rude about it and purposely smoked next to you. There were also numerous rows about him trying to smoke in our house because it ‘didn’t even smell’. It killed him in the end.

Yes! They chainsmoked 40+ a day each, everything was yellow and stunk of smoke. We never had any money. I had a hole in my shoes, that I had for 2 years and my mum shouted at me because she couldn’t afford a new pair. If they stopped smoking for 1 week I could have had shoes that didn’t let in and a proper coat. I still feel angry that it took my being in my 20’s before I could buy decent footwear and not spend the winter with wet feet. I now spend decent money on clothes like coats and shoes.

Yes that was my experience. I remember my dad going to ku too. To watch tell as he wanted to watch something different to the rest of us and I begged him not to smoke in my room, the one place I had that wasn’t utterly stinking. He sat and smoked in there, one fag after another and I was roared at that it was his fucking house!

I have visited people dying of lung cancer at home and they are still smoking in front of their kids/ grandkids . But at least it’s not people smoking on an actual hospital ward like I had at the start of my career!