to think that if parents smoke they are very selfish......

[posieparker]

considering between 500 to 1,000 children a year end up in hospital because they are exposed to their parents' smoking.

PMSL @ Plink

You did well Plinksan

As a child whose parents smoked 60 fags a day between them, in the car, house, bedrooms, dinner table, everywhere, yes they are selfish, it is utterly disgusting.

We went a walk down the street yesterday and all you could smell was smoke as the smokers were obviously all outside in every doorway, walking along etc.

Agree with the person who said we are all selfish in one way or another.

Well I have never smoked in my life, but I think your post is very harsh.Some people just CAN'T quit!

I'll have the occasional cig when having wine etc at a party. Never in front of my children or in my home or car. My children (4 and 2) do not know this at all, nor would i want them to know. And I wish I didn't smoke, tried to give up but failed, although I stopped during pregnancy and bf both times.
What ever clothes I wore at aforementioned party would be watched the following day so I do hope I am minimising risk. I think that my smoking probably has less impact on my childrens health than how some parents feed their children constant junk etc etc.

I used to smoke. Told myself it was fine because they never saw me smoke. I kept it from my eldest for 10 years. Then he caught me hiding in the garden with a fag.
Try explaining to a 10-year-old why mummy does this bad stupid, dangerous thing when they are taught at school about the evils of fags and there are billboard ads and tv ads etc.
I am so ashamed of myself now, as a non-smoker, because I realise now that I smelled, that I used to snap at them if they disturbed me just as I was planning to have a crafty fag, and that sometimes I used to smoke in the house (when they weren't there) and delude myself it was all ok. And that the house must have smelled too.

OP I am VERY judgemental now about parents who smoke.
Worse still, DH still does. It is a HUGE issue....

happyland, so you can do it for at least a year...what makes you start again? aside from children!

Estimated revenue from tobacco taxes in UK 2009/10 - £8.8bn. Cost of smoking related diseases in 2008/9 £2.7 bn.

Country would be struggling without that money - Government would have to tax something else if we all gave up (I don't smoke, btw).

I am personally not convinced about the dangers of passive smoking but that's more because I've not looked closely at the evidence. As a general aside, I am increasingly fed up with the Government making inane claims about what is good or bad for us. They are scientifically illiterate and should be forced to learn about risk, probability, whilst standing on one leg and reading Bad Science by Ben Goldacre outloud.

Yabu.

Some parents, like myself, so not smoke in their own home, or anywhere near children.

I used to be a 'full-time' smoker, and I would stand outside no matter what the weather.

Now I only smoke when I go out drinking, which has been twice in the last 6months.

I myself prefer to worry more about children getting abused then a parent smoking.

Yanbu
Of course we are all selfish in someways, but it is a choice to be that selfish that you would inflict your old bad breath smoke on your children.

Smoking a couple of nights a year doesn't really make one a smoker...

Was that at me?

I smoked for 14 years, still class myself as a smoker.

I don't think there are many parents who smoke in the house/car with dc in this day and age are there. What's more selfish about the smoking thing is placing oneself at risk of smoking related illnesses and potentially not living to see dc grow up.

There must be a good amount that still sadly smoke around their children whiffle if the Opening post is to be believed

I am one of those parents who gives up when 'preggers' and bf and then can't stop myself taking up thereafter.
It really is most odd that I go for over a year without thinking about it and then booom. I blame it on the kids too, helps me unwind at end of the day.
I smoke 1 or 2 a day (more if I go out which is maybe 6/8 times a year? at the end of the day, in the garden and then come in for a bath. My dc will never know I smoke as it sets a terrible example for them, even my parents don't know I smoke and I started at 16.

Suppose so SAC...very sad for the poor mites.

YANBU. I won't let DDs best friend in my house cos she stinks of stale fag smoke and I won't let DD go to her house because both parents smoke.

My mum thought I didn't know she smoked. I've known for years though. Ever since I was a little girl.
It's a lot harder to hide smoking from children that people think IMO.
Then again, it never had an impact on me because she never smoked near me. I was more bothered by her lying to me about it TBH.

My name is iwastooearly and i am a smoker,
please shoot me

I never smoked during any of my pregnancies, and have never smoked in front of my children or in the house.

My 2 elder children are aware of my disgusting habit, they are 18 and 21, but I still don't smoke in front of them.

The 2 younger ones may have guessed by now but i tend to wait until they are in bed.As they are now 11 and 13 this tends to be around midnight!

And yes i know it's not clever or cool, but then neither am I.

i smoke. i badly want to quit, but have turned into a monster each time i've tried.
i have never smoked in the house or car. my dc has never had any respiratory illness apart from when we had a cat! he developed mild asthma, so the cat went to live with someone else. no more asthma. are parents who own pets when their children have respiratory illnesses selfish?
at the end of the day we're human beings doing the best we can with what we have.
sometimes we're not perfect, and that's ok

"are parents who own pets when their children have respiratory illnesses selfish?"

Of course they are. If they know that the pet is responsible then they owe it to their children to rehome it responsibly. Their childs health should come far above having a pet. I find it odd that you need to ask?

YANBU....
...and all MN posts in AIBU are pointless if you think about it, we all just like a good rant

I think if you have never smoked its easy to be righteous and smug about it. I smoked for many years, gave up when I got pregnant and apart from a few well fuelled nights ( maybe 4 times in 6 years ) haven't touched them since.

I made my decision not only based on the DC but also my own health. I mourn smoking in a very acute way - not the physical addiction, as that is well gone, more the person I was when I smoked. Yes, the bad part was rushing rushing rushing through everything in my life to smoking time. But something about smoking made me risque, cynical, acerbic and sharp in a way nothing else can. I am a muffled version of myself ever since I gave up.I wish I had never touched one all those years ago.

So, in answer to the post, its easy to be scathing. But for every sad situation, IME there is often a back story that runs deep.

just wondering (out loud on MN) but i thought years ago a lot more people seemed to smoke than now but the statistics seem to indicate that child health issues are rising and i thought the number of smokers was dropping

is it just that we have more statistics and research these days to support this?

i have no evidence for this so please dont flame me!