The dangers of smoking in front of your children
28% of deaths associated with tobacco smoke in the world occur in children, what are you waiting for to quit smoking?
In recent decades, the consideration of tobacco as something harmful and harmful to health seems to have permeated our country. However, the percentage of smokers and smokers is still high. Despite all existing prevention measures, young people continue to start using tobacco at a very early age, although it is true that the percentage of young smokers has decreased in recent years.
We would all be scandalized if we saw parents give a cigarette to a small child or a baby. So why don’t we do it if we see those same parents smoking in front of their son , turning him into a passive smoker?
The importance of not smoking in the presence of the little ones is still relative for many families, who do not consider this act as something harmful to their children . Spain is the European country where this practice is most carried out. Let’s see why we should stop doing it.
Index
SMOKING DURING PREGNANCY
Let’s start at the beginning: smoking during pregnancy . It is proven that if the mother smokes throughout pregnancy, the baby is more likely to be born with low weight and with weaker lungs . In addition, it is directly associated with the higher prevalence of sudden infant death and, when they are older, with a greater possibility that children suffer from asthma as well as other types of disorders, for example, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ( ADHD ).
For all these reasons, doctors will advise mothers to stop smoking during pregnancy and also to avoid smoky spaces.
SMOKING IN FRONT OF THE BABY
Once the baby is born, there are many reasons why those around them should stop smoking. Babies breathe faster than adults taking more breaths per minute, which means that they introduce more air into their body. To this we must add that your respiratory system and immune system are still in the maturing process, so they have less capacity to minimize the damage caused by the toxic agents of tobacco smoke once you have become a passive smoker.
During the first years of life, children of smoking parents will suffer more infections than other children. Many pediatricians confirm this reality in their consultations or in the emergency services. The most common infections are ear infections, which are the most common childhood cause of hearing loss. Respiratory-type infections , such as pneumonia or bronchitis, are also very common . In addition, their recovery is usually slower than that of children who are not exposed to tobacco smoke.
Irritations of the mucous membranes, such as the throat, eyes and nose, due to the toxic agents of smoke, are also common in children of smoking parents. Even an adult who is a frequent passive smoker will surely notice these symptoms.
LONG-TERM EFFECTS
In addition to these short-term problems, there are also a number of long-term complications, as many studies have shown in recent years.
A study published in the European Heart Journal shows that children who have been exposed to smoke have thickening of the walls of their arteries . This puts them at a higher risk of heart and cerebrovascular disease when they are older. The thickening of the arteries was even greater in the case that both parents were smokers. The damage produced in the structure of the arteries would be irreversible, so the only way to avoid it is prevention from the beginning of the baby’s life , isolating it from tobacco smoke.
In addition to heart disease, a number of other problems can also occur in the long term, such as asthma. There is a higher incidence of childhood asthma cases in children exposed to tobacco smoke than in unexposed children.
Being a passive smoker child, the probability that in the future he will have hypertension problems is also increased , with all that comes with suffering from high blood pressure.
SMOKING ELSEWHERE IS NOT ENOUGH
All of these problems are not just due to the fact that parents smoke in front of their children. Ideally, parents should stop being smokers. The toxic agents of tobacco are exposed in the air, impregnated in clothing, skin, hair, furniture , etc. A few years ago, a group of doctors in our country proposed that smoking in the car with children in the car be considered mistreatment. Although this initiative was not accepted, today doctors continue to request that the anti-smoking law be expanded.
In addition to all these harmful consequences for the health of our children, there is an indisputable fact: parents are the role models of their children. So, as in so many other issues, children will tend to copy the habits of their parents. Many studies confirm that a child is more likely to be a smoker as an adult if his parents are. It is not enough for parents to educate them with phrases such as: “this is very bad” or “you should never smoke.” What matters is the actions and if children internalize tobacco as something normal in their parents’ daily lives , it is very likely that they will be smokers themselves when they grow up, despite all the warnings.
The importance of avoiding tobacco smoke in the presence of children is justified by data such as those collected by the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2004 they reported that tobacco caused more than 600,000 premature deaths each year and that 28% of deaths associated with tobacco smoke occurred in children.
Dr. Tabriella Perivolaris, Sara's mother and fan of fashion, beauty, motherhood, among others, about the female universe. Since 2018 she has been working as a copywriter, always bringing to her articles a little of her experience and experience as a mother and woman.