Talking to Teens about the Effects of Smoking

Parents searching for expert advice on the best way to talk to teenagers about the effects of smoking need to know there is no best way-and frankly, your history with your child and what you've learned about what works and what doesn't work with them already makes you an expert.

What You and Your Teen Need to Know
By the time the teen years kick in, your child has already seen countless televised public service announcements and endured endless teen smoking prevention lectures at school. He or she knows smoking is a bad habit and understands the negative social and health risks. Teens are fully aware that smoking cigarettes ranks high on the list of things forbidden, beside all the other things they should "just be saying no" to, which makes smoking seem all the more tempting once the defiant lobe in their adolescent brains starts to light up.

The Center for Disease Control estimates that each day about 3,000 teenagers start smoking. And although the trend in teen smoking has been declining slightly each year, that still amounts to more than 1 million new smokers year over year. If teens are so educated about the dangers of smoking, why do they start? Because in addition to the PSAs and lectures, they've also been absorbing our mixed cultural messages about cigarettes.

Movie idols and rock stars are often seen lighting up on screen, on stage or in fan magazines. Designated public smoking areas are located directly outside local businesses, giving smokers more visibility. And given the law of averages, most teens have at least one adult family member who's a smoker.

According to the American Cancer Society, teens may smoke for one of several reasons: a parent or other relative smokes, they believe it will help them handle stress or control their weight, they actually think it looks cool or it's something you've forbidden, thus making trying to get away with it an exciting prospect.

Get in Touch with Your Inner Teenager
Before you talk to your teen about smoking, take a minute to get in touch with your inner teenager. If you're not a smoker but tried smoking in the past, how old were you when you first tried cigarettes? Did you try them out of peer pressure, curiosity or because your older brother or sister smoked? Recalling your own teenage temptations is one way to help you tap into the mind of your curious teen.

If you've never smoked, take the same approach. Ask yourself why you didn't smoke and what you thought of others who smoked back in the day. What were some of the influences in your life that helped you decide not to smoke? The answers to these questions will help you when you determine your best strategy for talking to your teen about smoking.

Now Get in Touch with Your Teenager
The topic of smoking isn't going to come up naturally. You aren't going to say, "Hey Johnny, how was school? Did you smoke today?" You're going to have to be creative. Although it may feel forced, search for stories in newspapers, magazines or on the Internet about smoking, whether they're based on new studies, increased health risks or even straight statistics. It's not as far-fetched as you might think to use the news as a starting point for making conversation with your teen about smoking.

Depending on how your teen responds to visual media and best processes information, you might try searching the Internet for anti-smoking campaigns your teen (and you) haven't seen yet. Even YouTube hosts these on its site, but use your best judgment. If you think photos of a blackened lung, diseased heart or an addict's brain chemistry mapped in color will get the message across to your teen, you can find visuals like these easily with a good search engine.

If your teen is an athlete or takes great pride in his or her appearance, focus your conversation on the physical downside of smoking: diminished lung capacity, decreased performance on the field, bad breath and yellow teeth and nails. Don't forget the constant urge to light up because the brain has already been taken hostage by nicotine addiction.

Got a budding environmental activist in your house? Remind your planet-saving teen that it takes years for the acetate (plastic) filter of a cigarette to decompose, which both adds to the nation's litter problems and poses a risk to wildlife, as discarded filters often turn up in the stomachs of all kinds of wildlife on land or in the sea.

You can also approach the subject of teen smoking from a financial point of view. Give them some facts and figures and let them do the math. If the average cost of a pack of cigarettes falls somewhere between $4 and $6, how much will it cost to support a pack-a-day habit for a month's worth of cigarettes? How about for a year? Now equate the sum with something else they might like to buy with that money-a new computer or iPod, a Wii or even used car.

As awkward as it might seem at first, don't overlook role-playing with your teen. Some teens simply don't have the skills yet to thwart peer pressure when the invitation to smoke arises. Knowing how to say to no to smoking is different than understanding that you're supposed to say no. Each day tobacco companies spend $18 million to promote their products. Making an effort to talk to your teen about making healthy choices is your best weapon against these messages.