Should smoking around children be considered child abuse?
We went camping in Michigan every summer. We always had a campfire and if you have ever been around a campfire, you know that sooner or later the wind is going to blow the smoke right at you. When that happens, what do you do? You turn your head so that you don’t breathe in the smoke. You know what? The smokers also turn their heads. One might think that smokers would keep their heads right in the smoke so they can breathe it in, but nooooo, they don’t do that, do they?
According to www.dictionary.com child abuse is:
Mistreatment of a child by a parent or guardian, including neglect, beating, and sexual molestation.
There are many studies out there that have connected second hand smoke to increased cancer risks, et al.
Forcing a child to breathe second hand smoke is most definitely mistreatment of a child. Say whatever you want to, make any excuse you feel compelled to make, go ahead. Children have underdeveloped lungs and bodies. According to this article, http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/shsmoke.htm, “Infants and toddlers have tiny bodies, tiny lungs, and breathe rapidly. All of these things increase how smoke can affect them. “The EPA estimates that passive smoking is responsible for between 150,000 and 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections in infants and children under 18 months of age annually, resulting in between 7,500 and 15,000 hospitalizations each year.””
Would you feed your child arsenic? What about ammonia? Hydrogen cyanide? I hope you wouldn’t as you should recognize these as POISONS! Yet, if one smokes around someone else, let alone a child, they are directly responsible for exposing the child to these known poisons. Now, according to this article, second hand smoke has 250 plus dangerous chemicals in it. So, if you smoke around anyone who cannot leave the location, say a home where a child lives, you are forcing them to smoke with you. Sorry, that is just the truth!
I grew up with parents who both smoke. My Dad is currently suffering from stage four lung cancer thanks to his 50 plus years of smoking Pall Mall cigarettes. My Mom smoked all of her adult life until she died of cancer related to asbestos. Many of my relatives smoked. Most of their friends smoked. I was exposed to second hand smoke for all of my youth. To say that I was exposed is an understatement. I wonder now if I will develop cancer as a result of parents that smoked.
Smoking is a selfish behavior. Many, not all, don’t care about their actions and how it affects others. Side note, many of them just throw out their cigarette butts wherever they are as if the world is a giant ashtray for their personal use, but I digress.
Yes, smoking around children is definitely a form of child abuse.