A lot of parents ask me why their kids (between 9-17) smoke. They also ask how I quit the habit. I haven't lit a cigarette in 10 months and 15 days, and these people who keep asking me continue to remind me of that habit I once had. They're not helping me any by asking and yet they expect me to help them!
Anyway, there are no hard and fast rules why kids smoke. I can only relate it to my own experience since I was 9 years old. The reasons (or justifications) built up from there until it became a very bad habit. It reached up to 3 packs a day when I was in my 30s until I was past 45 years old.
And so, here is my Top 10 list why I smoked at 9 years old, moving up to my adult life. Perhaps you can take a cue from these.
10. Marlon Brando, James Dean, Steve McQueen and Paul Newman smoked.
9. I was impressed by guys blowing zeroes with their cigarettes.
8. I got tense because of the sexual advances of my grade school teacher.
7. I wanted to be one of the tough guys in school.
6. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Freddie Mercury, and Bob Dylan smoked.
5. It looked cool.
4. I'd look stupid taking pot if I didn't know how to smoke.
3. I wanted to have my own ashtray.
2. My Father forbade it since I was 4 years old, talked against it incessantly, and berated those who did. It was just so much fun going against him.
1. I had to do something after sex.
Here are my Top 10 Reasons for Quitting.
10. There are laws and fines for smoking in public places and very stringent rules even in private
premises.
9. So many people react to it, believing, and lecturing me on, the findings regarding second hand
smoke.
8. My kids feel as if they are licking an ashtray each time they greet me with a kiss.
7. I hate having to brush my teeth 6 times a day.
6. I have successfully burned a blanket, my T-shirt and my chest falling asleep while smoking.
5. I was almost haled to court on a sexual harassment charge when I accidentally burned a
woman's butt going up an escalator. She was wearing tight stretch pants.
4. I burned my eyebrows and part of my hair while filling a lighter with butane with a cigarette in my
mouth.
3. More and more people kept smooching sticks from me.
2. The exhaled smoke were beginning to take on weird forms.
1. On New Year's Eve, while drinking and playing with firecrackers lit with cigarettes, I threw the
cigarette and put the firecracker in my mouth.
Well, There it is.
Hurrrwwk... no wait...., I think I can (gulp) swallow this. Yes!
Anyway, there are no hard and fast rules why kids smoke. I can only relate it to my own experience since I was 9 years old. The reasons (or justifications) built up from there until it became a very bad habit. It reached up to 3 packs a day when I was in my 30s until I was past 45 years old.
And so, here is my Top 10 list why I smoked at 9 years old, moving up to my adult life. Perhaps you can take a cue from these.
10. Marlon Brando, James Dean, Steve McQueen and Paul Newman smoked.
9. I was impressed by guys blowing zeroes with their cigarettes.
8. I got tense because of the sexual advances of my grade school teacher.
7. I wanted to be one of the tough guys in school.
6. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Freddie Mercury, and Bob Dylan smoked.
5. It looked cool.
4. I'd look stupid taking pot if I didn't know how to smoke.
3. I wanted to have my own ashtray.
2. My Father forbade it since I was 4 years old, talked against it incessantly, and berated those who did. It was just so much fun going against him.
1. I had to do something after sex.
Here are my Top 10 Reasons for Quitting.
10. There are laws and fines for smoking in public places and very stringent rules even in private
premises.
9. So many people react to it, believing, and lecturing me on, the findings regarding second hand
smoke.
8. My kids feel as if they are licking an ashtray each time they greet me with a kiss.
7. I hate having to brush my teeth 6 times a day.
6. I have successfully burned a blanket, my T-shirt and my chest falling asleep while smoking.
5. I was almost haled to court on a sexual harassment charge when I accidentally burned a
woman's butt going up an escalator. She was wearing tight stretch pants.
4. I burned my eyebrows and part of my hair while filling a lighter with butane with a cigarette in my
mouth.
3. More and more people kept smooching sticks from me.
2. The exhaled smoke were beginning to take on weird forms.
1. On New Year's Eve, while drinking and playing with firecrackers lit with cigarettes, I threw the
cigarette and put the firecracker in my mouth.
Well, There it is.
Hurrrwwk... no wait...., I think I can (gulp) swallow this. Yes!
