If you caught your child smoking....

[Marseeya]

what would your punishment be?

Hypothetical question -- I haven't caught either of my kids smoking, but I'm curious.

I quit smoking in 1999 and I jokingly tell both kids that if they ever start, my punishment would be that I'd start too. I never would, but I honestly don't know how I would punish them. I started when I was 12 years old and I wish my parents would have found an appropriate punishment for me to quit back then!

 

[AllyandJack]

I don't have kids, but when I was little, my mother told me if she ever caught me smoking, she'd make me eat the entire pack.

I've never even held a lit cigarette in my entire life and I'm 28 now.

Guess it worked.

 

[palmtreegirl]

I'd make them volunteer at a hospice or hospital that has terminally ill patients dying from lung cancer.

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

A kid can't pay for a smoking habit if he or she has no money. If I caught my daughter smoking, there would be no allowance for her for a VERY long time, like a year. After that, she would get money again, but she'd have to spend it in my presence. Yes, a kid can still get cigarettes from friends, but I seriously doubt that they can learn the habit of smoking, that is, get smoke enough to get addicted, unless that have some cash.

Frankly, I think it's insane to give kids too much money. There's too much trouble kids can find when they have a lot of money in their pocket. Leave out smoking or drinking, there's overeating as well! When my friend and I were young, we'd get money from our parents all the time. We'd take that money and head off to the store a few houses away and buy candy, cookies, soda and chips and we lived on that junk food. Too much cash for kids equals a little too much freedom and responsibility. Parents need to know exactly what their children are doing with money.

Ok, I got off track, but if I caught my daughter smoking, I would cut off her allowance, or at least supervise her spending of it.

 

[caitycaity]

i don't know. my mom told me she thought smoking was worse than doing drugs or having unprotected sex.

i still did it though.

 

[Marseeya]

A kid can't pay for a smoking habit if he or she has no money. If I caught my daughter smoking, there would be no allowance for her for a VERY long time, like a year. After that, she would get money again, but she'd have to spend it in my presence. Yes, a kid can still get cigarettes from friends, but I seriously doubt that they can learn the habit of smoking, that is, get smoke enough to get addicted, unless that have some cash.

Frankly, I think it's insane to give kids too much money. There's too much trouble kids can find when they have a lot of money in their pocket. Leave out smoking or drinking, there's overeating as well! When my friend and I were young, we'd get money from our parents all the time. We'd take that money and head off to the store a few houses away and buy candy, cookies, soda and chips and we lived on that junk food. Too much cash for kids equals a little too much freedom and responsibility. Parents need to know exactly what their children are doing with money.

Ok, I got off track, but if I caught my daughter smoking, I would cut off her allowance, or at least supervise her spending of it.

I think that's an excellent idea!

However, I have to say that it wouldn't have worked for me. When I was a kid, I didn't get an allowance. I got my cigarettes from friends' parents who would buy whole cartons of them and we'd just swipe them by the box. One box would last us well over a month, because like you said it's not enough to get addicted. But it sure did set the foundation for later habits. I smoked off and on from age 12 to age 18 when I was old enough to buy my own and get totally hooked.

But, I think your idea would work in a different way (I'm talking about personally with my own family). I think withholding money would be punishment in itself.

 

[SherryNC]

I didn't need an allowance to get cigarettes........I just stole them from my mom. Yeah, I'm bad. Her and my stepdad were chain smokers, so they didn't notice a pack missing here and there. I was really only experimenting anyway.

Here's the story of how I got caught at 15. Boyfriend and I cut class. Wow, I'm sounding like a deliquent now . Anyway, I got the cut slip out the mail and don't ask me why, but I hid it under my mattress. Mom goes to change the sheets and finds it. So she sat me down and asked me if I had something I wanted to tell her. Crap, I assumed she found my stash under my tv stand. She said, tell me the truth and you won't get in as much trouble. I fell for that one every time. So I confessed to sneaking some smokes. This was my mom . This was me . Wow, 2 for the price of one and she had to call EVERY stinkin relative and tell them . I think I got grounded for cutting. Unfortunately she didn't make a big deal out of the smoking because she had started at 14. It never became a big habit fortunately. Just did it when I hung out with my deliquent friends .

I don't think dd,15 will ever want to even try them as her grandma suffers from emphysema now and she swears it is the nastiest habit. And so the line of deliquents ends .

 

[kikipug]

I'd make them volunteer at a hospice or hospital that has terminally ill patients dying from lung cancer.

I agree... by the time I was 12, my grandfather lived with us (as he was too frail to live alone) and was on oxygen 24/7 due to emphysema. Just one look at him... 5'8", 91 lbs... struggling for every breath... was enough to keep me from picking it up... I'm sure it would be a real wakeup call to some of today's kids!

 

[SunFloridaDisney]

Not sure since the kids (4 of them) always thought it was a disgusting yukky habit.

Until ODD started college, now she's a smoker, and being 20 years old, I don't feel I can 'punish' her. She knows I don't allow it in the house, and never when she's driving my car, but I can't control what she does when away at school.

Thankfully, maybe this is another way to drive it home to the 3 others. They think its even more nasty now, and keep trying to convince their sister to quit. I hope she listens!

 

[pixiedust23]

I have to second the volunteer work at the hospice. I used to smoke when I was in college and then my grandfather who was dying of ehmphazema due to smoking made me promise that I would never smoke. I've never even had a drag since that day. I refuse to date a smoker and my friends know not to smoke in front of me, unless they like wasting their money, b/c I will break that cancer stick in two right in front of their face.

O and I just thought of this. Kinda cruel but hey... Somehow get their clothes to smell like smoke (I'm not sure how you could do this safely) and then force them to walk around smelling like smoke. That shouldl help them kick the habit real fast. Let's face it. No one wants to be friends with the smelly kid!

 

[kikipug]

Until ODD started college, now she's a smoker, and being 20 years old, I don't feel I can 'punish' her. She knows I don't allow it in the house, and never when she's driving my car, but I can't control what she does when away at school.

If she's still on your health insurance, I'd make her foot her portion of the bill if she chooses to jeopardize her health.

 

[Marseeya]

O and I just thought of this. Kinda cruel but hey... Somehow get their clothes to smell like smoke (I'm not sure how you could do this safely) and then force them to walk around smelling like smoke. That shouldl help them kick the habit real fast. Let's face it. No one wants to be friends with the smelly kid!

That's bad!

Not quite true in our case, though. One of my son's best friends has parents who chain smoke and that poor kid has always reeked of stale smoke. Even when I was a smoker, the smell on this kid's clothes made me retch! I've mentioned it to my son and it doesn't seem to bother any of the kids at all.

 

[stinkerbelle]

I didn't need an allowance to get cigarettes........I just stole them from my mom. Yeah, I'm bad.

I did that too.
And then I found a place I could buy them...they weren't as "strict" back then.

of course - smokes were also around $2 a pack!

she did catch me...but oh well...she smoked too. kettle/black scenario.

for the record - both of us have now quit

 

[SherryNC]

I did that too.
And then I found a place I could buy them...they weren't as "strict" back then.

of course - smokes were also around $2 a pack!

she did catch me...but oh well...she smoked too. kettle/black scenario.

for the record - both of us have now quit

1984 99 cents

 

[goofyforlife]

Fortunately,

my dd and I will probably never go down that road....

She knows how I feel about smoking...

DD had infant asthma and bronchitus many times and there were many times I didn't let her stay at my mom's house because my step-father smoked.

Neither my husband or I smoke...and she's witnessed my MIL die at a young age from agressive lung cancer. (She was only 56.)

 

[PneumaticTransit]

In middle school, a friend on mine was caught smoking by his father. He made him smoke the entire pack - one after the other - until he got sick. Maybe not the most humane thing to do, but my friend never picked up another cigarette.

 

[ncgolfer]

If i caught my child smoking I would probably try to douse them with water to put the fire out. Geez can't let you kids catch on fire and smoke and not try to extinguish it.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I've told my kids that if I ever caught them smoking I'd break their legs.

When my elderly mother was a girl her and her sister were caught smoking. This is back in the days when a smoker rolled their own. Her dad sat with them, rolled, and made them smoke them all. My mother got very sick and never smoked again.

T&B

 

[joshsmom]

When I was 6 or 7, I chewed the ends of a pack of my aunt's cigarettes. She made me light one and take a puff. I threw up. No more for me

 

[Marseeya]

I've told my kids that if I ever caught them smoking I'd break their legs.

When my elderly mother was a girl her and her sister were caught smoking. This is back in the days when a smoker rolled their own. Her dad sat with them, rolled, and made them smoke them all. My mother got very sick and never smoked again.

T&B

My grandfather always rolled his own cigarettes, too! He had a collection of plastic filters (nasty). When I was little, he'd taught me how to roll them on a machine and when I was six, I took one and lit it up. OMG, all my relatives were laughing hysterically, but then a hush filled the room when my mom walked in. I'll leave the rest to your imagination, but let's just say nobody was laughing after she got done with me