| Parents and guardians can take the following actions to
help their children stay or become tobacco-free: |
| Be Smoke Free |
|
Set a good example and be a positive role model by not using tobacco.
|
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If you don't smoke, don't start! If you do smoke, quit!
|
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If you smoke, share your struggles to quit with your children.
|
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Maintain a smoke-free home and car.
|
| Talk With Kids |
|
Give clear, consistent messages about the dangers of tobacco.
|
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Emphasize the immediate, health effects of smoking or using tobacco.
|
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Emphasize the effects of smoking on physical appearance.
|
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Tell your kids that you don't want them to smoke and will be disappointed
with them, if they do.
|
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Help children critically analyze messages that glamorize tobacco use
on television, in movies and in magazines.
|
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Destroy the myth that everybody smokes.
|
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Share tobacco-use prevention information with children and talk with
them about anything and everything.
|
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Teach children to manage emotions.
|
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Teach children to be social without tobacco.
|
| Talk With Teachers |
|
Work with the school board to provide youth tobacco cessation programs,
rather than punishment, for students who violate tobacco-use policies.
|
| Sources:
National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids, 2004, Michigan Department of Community
Health, Talk It Out, 2002, Schwebel, R., How to Help YOur Kids Choose To
Be Tobacco-Free, 1999, Distefan, J.M., Gilpin, E.A., Choi, W.S. & Pierce,
J.P., 1998. |
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