Letting your children smoke.

I know a woman who lets her 15 year old son smoke cigarettes. I was appalled. Even a 17 year old has no business smoking. When you turn 18 you can make your own choices, but until then, you are under your parents rule. You have to do what they say. No questions asked.

Other being that it is against the law, it makes me sick that a parent would let their child do something that is so horrible for their health.

Surprise surprise this kid was diagnosed with bronchitis today.

What do you think about drinking? My parents would not let me smoke, even after I turned 18, lol. But they allowed me to drink at the age of 17. I would have margaritas with them and even shots of tequila.

Opinions?

No on the smoking and no on the drinking. It is illegal and personally, I think it is very trashy to have tequila shots with your under age child.
My father allowed me to have a sherry glass of wine at dinner each night. But I recently found out that he filled the glass with half water half wine.
Besides, wine in South Africa is about culture, not getting drunk. It is pretty routine for kids to be allowed wine with meals.

I would have to agree. My little sister is 17 now. At 17 I felt like I was old enough to make my own decisions. Old enough to drink and go out partying with my friends. My sister is 5 years younger than me, and whenI hear about her going out and drinking, I cringe. I found out she had a boyfriend and I nearly sh!t myself.

Smoking I have a huge issue with, its a dumb thing to start no matter what your age is. But drinking.. it depends. My parents always said if I wanted to have a beer, or a glass of wine (as a teenager) I was more than welcome too. Drinking was shown to be social, not to get drunk.

Most of the kids I knew who 'partied the heartiest' came from families where they weren't allowed to drink evar. Those who were allowed to drink socially with family seemed not have the 'forbidden fruit' complex with alcohol.

No smoking, no drinking. Health effects aside, it is illegal, and I don't like the idea of a parent who teaches their child it is okay to break the law.

Smoking, hell no. Drinking, yes.
I would not ALLOW my child to smoke under any cercumstance. At least I would not apporove of it. I'm not sure what I would do to stop my child from smoking, because at 16 and 17 or younger, they can be pretty sneaky. Unfortualtly in Germany, you can still get cigarettes at any age in certian places. This pretty much has to do with them changing the smoking law, from being able to buy cigarrettes at the age of 16 to having to be 18. (That was shortly before I was 16 - most of the people in my class stocked them)
I wouldn't mind if my child smoked a ciggarette once in a while - at least I wouldn't pounce on them. I wouldn't approve, but as long as it doesn't become a regular thing. I can't be hypocrytical either, because I smoke on and off as well.

I would however allow my child to drink. At least at home under my supervision. Maybe not liquer or any other hard stuff, but wine or beer. Here, once they turn 16, I can't keep them from drinking anyways. They can expirement and find their limits BEFORE they learn how to drive, so that they can test their limits (NOT drunk so that they don't remember anything drunk).
My parents didn't say anything to me drinking after I turned 16. It was legal, and if felt that I needed it I would have been able to buy it anyway.
My mom always says, better it be at home, than anywhere else.

I really don't approve drinking and driving though. Not at all. They would get their car taken away. end of story.

My mom grew up in Spain, and she would be able to go to a bar and get a beer with some tapas when she was 15 or 16.

I am trying to make a post that sounds normal and not confusing, haha.
I'm allowed to drink, as long as I am with family and/or at home and not on antibiotics. But I really don't want to, I'm doing just fine with my Gatorade and teas, I'm allowed a glass of wine or champagne(which i find gross, hah) and beer probably (because we always have it and it helps with weight gain ), but like I said, I don't really want to, haha.


as for the smoking...ugghh. that is just such a bad idea.

Smoking is a definite no.

If it is like one drink like a glass of wine or something then I would allow them to do that at home. Shots? No. Straight hard liquor? No.

Absolutely NO on the smoking. With the drinking, I'm somewhere in the middle. I'll explain. When I was about 16 or 17 and my parents had a cocktail party....all very civilized and responsible, no one got drunk or anything, they would include me in their party. We'd have fancy hors d'œuvres...all pretty "classy." Not that it was a brawling kegger party.

My Dad would make me a very weak gin and tonic with a lime in it. It made me feel "grown up" and part of the group. I never developed a fascination with alcohol because it wasn't a "forbidden" or tabu thing....no big deal. I never felt a thrill or compulsion to go to parties in high school where they had keggers or anything. To this day, I drink very little....a couple of beers if I go out to a karaoke bar or one or two drinks if I go to a party. It's just not a big deal.

I realize that some people may be at risk nevertheless, due to genes and their propensity toward addiction to alcohol. But for most people, a little bit of alcohol isn't bad for them. (in fact, one or two drinks when you're an adult may reduce the risk of heart attack due to lowering the b.p.)

Cigarettes, on the other hand are horrible for anyone and very addictive.

So, I think if alcohol is given judicially by the parents when and if a teen is old enough to realize some responsibility, it's not necessarily a bad thing. It's in the home...no driving, no sneaking around and no excess and it may take the fascination out of it.

Wow...I missed all those posts while I was typing. LOL.

well I wouldn't go out and BUY smokes for my underage child....

But remembering being a teenager and smoking (for the brief time that I did) my parents couldn't stop me from smoking. They wouldn't buy them for me and would not let me be around them when I decided to smoke... but there are plenty of ways to get cigarettes .

but I always remember being allowed to have a beer on a hot summer day or at a special occassion and such.

Today anyone who starts smoking is just plain stupid ! As to having a drink , I was brought up that it was a social thing ...not something to be abused . I would hate to send my child off to college and have binge drinking their first experience .

To be honest, I to this day, do not understand why the drinking age in the USA (and Canada?) is 21. Esp. for beer or wine. Beer has so little alcohol.... esp. if its one of those mixerys. (2,5%)

My parents were both strongly against both - my dad hates it, my mother has terrible fears about alcohol because her dad was an alcoholic - and I've still never been drunk once in my life. I do drink, but I have absolutely no desire to go out, party, and get trashed. I know a lot of people think if you don't make things "forbidden" that takes a lot of the mystery out of it for kids, but honestly, I disagree. I think it's all about HOW you make it "forbidden..." If it's just straight up "I said no therefore no," it's probably not going to end well, no matter the subject.


I've never touched a cigarette and never will. I think it's disgusting. I wish all of my friends who still smoke could/would quit. I think letting your kid smoke is awful. Does she smoke? Is that why she does it, because she's afraid of looking like a hypocrite? It's still terrible either way, I just can't figure out what her mindset must be to allow her young child to smoke.



Though I will admit that the number of people in my life I have lost due to drunk drivers likely has a strong weight on how much I do/do not drink.

No to smoking at all. Will not be tolerated by anyone in my house period. If they do smoke, it will not be in my house and I will not enable them in any way. It's disgusting and I'm allergic.

Drinking wine/beer with a meal or on occasion I don't have a problem with.

I don't know about that. After two beers, my singing sounds better. And after everyone else in the bar drinks two or more beers, it reeeeeelly gets better.:rofl1:

1 1/2 beers is more than enough to make me buzzed/tipsy. I only weigh 115 lbs, and drink occasionally. Anything over 2-3 beers (unless I reallllllly space them out) is enough to make me walk into walls.

Soo...yeah. Those 5-6% beers are more than enough to cause damage for the right person.

Sure you can get buzzed on beer - but at 21, you can still get just as buzzed on beer than if you were 16. I drank beer for the first time at 14 - like 2 0,33cl bottels, and got a bit er happy - but even now if I drink 2 beers I start getting more chatty than I normally would be. I don't think thats going to change when I turn 21.

Bahaha I love the late nights when the whole bar starts singing

I think the idea is that you are able to make more responsible decisions at 21 than you are at 14, 16, or 18. (For everyone? No. But for the majority of people? Yes)

the legal drinking age on Canada (well in ontario) is 19.

I think in Quebec it's 18.