Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
News
Original poster

Parents face ban on smoking in front of children - apologies if there's already a thread on this.

56 replies

TAFKAtheUrbanDryad · 14/12/2009 19:34

Here. Fucking lunacy! I assume they'll be banning drinking in front of children too, since drinking is far more disruptive to society?

I agree that parents shouldn't smoke in the house where there are kids, and I would welcome legislation which stopped people smoking in the car with their kids, but this is sheer craziness!

And yes, of course the ideal is that people quit smoking, but it's not that simple is it?

OP posts:
littleducks · 14/12/2009 19:40

I saw this on the wright stuff this morning, doesnt sound to bad to me . Obv the own home thing is totally unenforcable but i think cars could be policed, i dont see why they dont just ban smoking while driving, like mobile phones.

They had a bloke phone in who said he thought it was a pointless suggestion, he then said he tried not to smoke in the car with the kids, the panel pushed him as they do, and he said he only smoked on long journeys, so they asked if he would smoke on long journeys if it was banned, he said no...then realised that if it would benefit his kids if it was banned.

PeasPlease · 14/12/2009 19:42

I suppose that if you drink in front of kids they don't passively consume alcohol though whereas you can't stop them inhaling the fag smoke that you are breathing out.

I would guess that many non smokers simply cannot believe how parents can smoke around their little children whereas smokers don't see much problem with it at all and as you say quitting is not easy.

When I read that article I'm afraid I thought Oh Good.

Original poster
TAFKAtheUrbanDryad · 14/12/2009 19:48

I didn't think they were talking about passive smoking, the article talks in terms of "impressionable children" so I think me standing outside my back door, watching my dc through the window with the door shut would be effectively illegal.

And of course it's much safer for me to leave them totally unsupervised while I have a smoke, so lon as they don't see me doing it.

OP posts:
SantaWears2shoes · 14/12/2009 19:48

wjy don't they just ban smoking false stop.........oh of course cos the goverment make money from it.

RichardCranium · 14/12/2009 19:54

I also thought "Oh good". Well it would be if it had the desired effect, it won't though.

winnybella · 14/12/2009 19:59

What does it mean, though, 'if the parents have their kids with them'? As in you are not allowed to smoke in your own kitchen with the door closed if the kids are in the house? Or literally are not allowed to blow smoke in their faces?
And how exatly would they enforce it?

ShinyAndNew · 14/12/2009 19:59

As 2shoes said the government make money from smoking. They are not actually to going enforce a total ban on smoking.

Banning people from smoking inside their own homes is lunacy and is completely unenforceable too.

winnybella · 14/12/2009 20:00

exactly

Meglet · 14/12/2009 20:04

It will never work, but it's a good idea.

Original poster
TAFKAtheUrbanDryad · 14/12/2009 21:08

You don't see how it work, or be enforcable? Really? How about a HV coming round to do a new baby check and seeing a packet of cigarettes on the side? Or smelling smoke in the house? One phonecall to SS later and the matter's resolved.

Where does it end? I agree that parents shouldn't be giving blowbacks to their kids, but to have a cigarette outside the back door, or in a pub garden while they have a run around, I don't see anything wrong with that apart from the obvious that smoking is baaaaaaad.

OP posts:
Tortington · 14/12/2009 21:12

they should either fucking ban it or don't

this shit is pointless - and i wonder how much it costs the tax payer to get it to a consultative stage.

turdbiscuits

ShinyAndNew · 14/12/2009 21:14

I don't smoke inside the house, but I have cigarettes inside my house. On window sills mainly, where I get one put the packet down and go outside.

Plus they could argue that the house smelled of smoke because of the smell on their clothing/they had a window open and people were smoking outside/they burnt some toast/it was the builders.

Unless they were actually caught in the act, it would be very hard to prove. Plus SS are already overstretched, they wouldn't have time to monitor peoples smoking habits too. So are HVs.

atlantis · 14/12/2009 21:14

Well if you can't smoke in front of your own children there is only one answer, kids swap, I have a friend who smokes we'll just have to swap kids until they are 16. Simple.

ShinyAndNew · 14/12/2009 21:16

@ atlantis.

wukter · 14/12/2009 21:17

Ridiculous.
But then smokers are pure evil, aren't they unlike poor misfortunate addicts of other stripes.
Smoking is bad, mmkay, but I'd rather parent as a heavy smoker rather than a heavy drinker.

RemyMartin · 14/12/2009 21:19

You shouldn't really need the government to tell you it's a bad idea to smoke in front of your kids. It's obvious.

RichardCranium · 14/12/2009 21:30

The reason I gave up smoking (apart from obvious health implications to my DC) was because I didn't want my Children watching someone who they admire and look up to doing something so bloody stupid and later on following my stupid example.

The same reason I wouldn't snort coke, shoot heroin, sell small arms on the black market, binge drink and dive off piers into shipping lanes around them.

I bloody loved smoking, didn't care that it was likely to cause a premature, painful death and if I didn't have my DC, I'd be puffing away right now but the thought of my kids lighting up (or doing any of the above) in 15 years time fills me with dread.

RemyMartin · 14/12/2009 21:36

Can I just ask anyone who smokes in front of their child(ren) - does it not bother you that smoking in front of them might make them smoke in the future? And I am an ex smoker myself, but I wouldn't have dreamed of continuing to smoke when I had ds. Sorry if that sounds sanctimonious and preachy, but I really find it hard to believe that anyone does it tbh.

nothingofthesort · 14/12/2009 21:47

Oh good.

christmaseve · 14/12/2009 21:48

Smokers should be put against a wall and shot, if they are parents they should be shot twice just to make sure. Imagine how much that would save the NHS.

Then when you have killed all the smokers they should start on the drinkers. Then the ones who eat cream cakes.

Just having a bad moment. I'm pissed off with this riduculous nanny state which is breeding bigots.

Kaloki · 14/12/2009 22:04

"does it not bother you that smoking in front of them might make them smoke in the future?"

For me personally it made me hate smoking, then in my friend's case her parents never smoked and hated it, she now smokes like a chimney.

It's not as easy as you made it sound.

atlantis · 14/12/2009 22:32

" Can I just ask anyone who smokes in front of their child(ren) - does it not bother you that smoking in front of them might make them smoke in the future? "

My eldest is 22, he doesn't smoke and never wanted to try it.

My sister's kids are they same, 29, 26, 23, none of them smoke and yet dad is a chimley.

My brothers kids, one smokes, one doesn't.

It's not if the parents smoke, it's if their friends smoke then they will try it, the parents being smokers is just used as a comeback line 'well you do it'.

I didn't start smoking because my mother smoked, I started because all of my friends smoked.

christmaseve · 14/12/2009 22:38

Most of the teens I know who's parents demonised smoking are now smoking.

I smoke and my DD doesn't and probably never will. My mum smoked, I did and my sis never had. You cannot ever think that the stance you make will influence your DC's. Just live and let live will put them in better stend for their future attitudes.

Tidey · 14/12/2009 22:41

Agree with Custy. Ban it altogether, or feck off. Banning it in public places is open to interpretation - People don't smoke inside pubs anymore but can stand right in the doorway where more people are passing them than if they were sitting in a seperate smoking room.

What counts as 'in front of children' is even more questionable. Within their view? In any space where they can smell the smoke? Blowing the fumes right into their faces?

It's all bullshit. Stop selling them altogether, people would have no choice but to give up.

differentnameforthis · 14/12/2009 22:46

In some parts of Australia, you aren't allowed to smoke in cars that have children in.

For passive-smoking reasons, tho. Not influence.