Why Quit Smoking?

Most teen smokers would tell you that they can stop smoking anytime they want. However, teen smoking statistics show otherwise. In fact, it is reported that teenagers who smoke are more likely to become adult smokers in the future. Most adults who started smoking during their teenage years would tell you that they did not expect to become addicted to smoking when they smoked their first cigarette.

The hackneyed saying that you have to know your opponent well enough to beat him at his game is in all angles true. To help a teenage kid battle against his smoking habits, you have to get into the root cause.

• Why exactly does he smoke?
• What does he like about it?
• Do his friends smoke?
• Does he think it is cool to smoke?

Consider Quitting Together
Of course, you don’t need to be a smoker yourself in order to understand the teenager. In fact, it would be ironic if you are and you would like to stop someone else smoke. If that is the case, you might want to encourage the kid to quit smoking with you. You can even turn it into a petty competition to motivate him. Explain to him how you have been trying to quit smoking all your life and that now is the perfect time to do so.

Smoking and Self-Image
Teen smoking has become prevalent because most parents would rather reprimand their children for the mistake instead of encouraging them to quit. Teenagers have various reasons for smoking. He might be smoking because of peer pressure or the notion that smokers are cool and seem more mature. Little by little, you can try overturning their belief that smoking enhances their self-image. Try to make them realize that smoking actually worsens it.

Save the Lecturing and Nagging
Although the long-term health risks of smoking are real, barraging a teenager with all these facts isn’t usually effective. Teenagers may find it difficult to relate their present to their future selves. You may hear these lines from a teenager who refuse to quit smoking: “So what if I get sick when I am old? Life’s like that. I can do whatever I want now.”

Instead of lecturing them about these dangers, try a more relevant approach. Tell them that smoking makes your teeth appear more yellowish and that you get bad breath from it. Tell them that they look a lot paler and sickly since they started smoking. Encourage them to try physically challenging activities, like running marathons or rock climbing, that are too hard to do if you are a smoker.

Let them know about the more pertinent implication of their habits to make them feel that smoking has no useful purpose in their lives whatsoever.