“Go put a piece of gum in your mouth and then come back to kiss me.” That is what my husband told me the other night. I admit I am one of the millions in America that smoke. It is a filthy habit that I unfortunately started when I was 15 years old and haven’t been able to kick it successfully. I am a stay-at-home mom and I go outside throughout the day to smoke, and my 4-year-old asks me on a weekly basis, “Mommy why do you smoke?” I always find myself feeling guilty telling him that I do it because it is a bad habit and that he should NEVER smoke.
I know that the majority of smokers are upset because there are laws being enforced in Texas, where I live, that you can’t smoke in certain businesses. I have also been hearing of a law that the government is trying to pass or that has been passed, where if you are smoking in your car and there is a small child in a car seat accompanying you that you will be fined. I honestly do not smoke in my house or in my car that my kids ride in. I am not one to put my kids in danger due to my bad habit. I feel that they don’t really have a say in the matter, but if I can prevent them from getting lung cancer from second-hand smoke, I am going to. Yes, I have two young children and I did quit smoking while I was pregnant with each of them.
I agree with the banning of smoking in restaurants due to the fact that young children, babies, pregnant women, and other people who don’t smoke go into those places and should not have to reap the consequences of our bad and dangerous habit. They do have a no smoking law in Texas that states that you cannot smoke on hospital property. If you do want to smoke then you have to sit in your car. I also agree with that law. I know that there aren’t kids and babies in bars, but I think that smoking should be banned there also just out of respect for the individuals who do not smoke.
In all honesty, even though I am a smoker, I think that smoking should be banned from everywhere, with the exception of your home. I think that it is killing more people than anything else right now in our society. I hope that eventually the government can completely do away with tobacco. I don’t want my kids and my kids’ kids to go through what I have had to over the past 13 years. I feel like crap all the time, I am not as active as I used to be and I get out of breath easily. Not to mention, I take time away from my family to go sit outside, by myself, to smoke. Another bad aspect of this addiction is that now it is so expensive. I could by my kids 10 toys each week or put $100 in a college fund each month for both of them for the amount I spend on cigarettes.
I am going to beat this addiction and quit so that I can save my own life and better the lives of my children.
The main thing to remember is that babies, kids and other nonsmokers don’t have a choice but to breathe in your second-hand smoke when you smoke around them. Have a little respect for others to go outside and find an area where there aren’t nonsmokers around to smoke.