I remember growing up hating my parents smoking.  I was a "good girl" in high school; then went for the gusto in college!  All the textbooks vices I found a way to try  - some I kept, others I abandoned.  But the real reason is that I wanted my roommate to like me.  And though I had checked off an "I don't care" box on a smoking roommate, turns out I really did care. I smoked from 19 years old to 34ish.  Now I am clean and can honestly say I just cannot stand the stuff. Hopefully now at 40 my lungs are in better shape; course my knees feel a bit fried!

My two cents...people are always trying to blame someone for their own crap.  No one is accountable for their own stuff anymore - words, beliefs, decisions - and it just plain ticks me off.  Kids smoke because they emulate what they see and want to be accepted by just about anyone who has power over them. Not so different from grown ups if you ask me.  And they see smoking in real life more than in movies.  Unless of course they go to the movies every day of every week!

So there you have it.  Growing up is hard to do and kids are going to make mistakes.  It takes real people to teach them about the bad stuff in life and hopefully they have the values and smarts to make the right decisions.  Not to mention the self confidence to stand up for what they really want.

Here are some other posts/articles on teens and smoking.  And thanks for listening - jump in if you want to comment.

All the best, sue