Teen Smoking How To Help Your Teen Quit Smoking
Teen smoking is a cause of alarm for the people across the globe. For the past few decades, it’s the youth that is more attracted to smoking cigarettes .After all, teens who smoke are likely to turn into adults who smoke. It is very important that one takes teen smoking seriously and help the youth to quit that demeaning habit at a very early stage itself.
In order to genuinely help the teen to quit smoking, one needs to be curious and at the same time be supportive. There should be pondering in the initiative that has triggered the youth to resort to smoking in the first place. There could be reasons like stress, financial problems, adapting in a different environment or it could also be for sheer pleasure of it. Sometimes teen smoking is an attempt to feel cool or more grown-up.
Once there is an understanding into why teens have opted to smoke, making them quit smoking becomes a much easier task. One must encourage the teens to share his or her concerns and there should be a vivid explanation given to the smoking teens about the consequences of smoking like cancer, heart attack, strokes and other respiratory ailments.
One can also put forward other aspects of smoking such as bad breathe , foul smelling hair and clothes, yellow colouring of nails and teeth, paler looking skin and early aging.
As a parent, he or she has the most powerful influences in the teen’s life and the parents actions speak louder than the words. So if the parents smoke, then its time they quit and set a good example for the teens in the house. It is more of a responsibility that the adult shoulders in the development of the child in the house.
Many teens who smoke think they can stop anytime, but research shows this isn’t usually true. In fact, most adults who started smoking in their teens never expected to become addicted to nicotine.
It is actually easier for the teens to quit smoking than the adults so it is always earlier the better. Few steps that can be followed to help the teens to quit smoking are:
- Help the teen to choose a date to stop smoking.
- Encourage the teen to write down all the reasons he or she wants to quit smoking. The list can help the teen stay motivated when he or she is tempted to smoke.
- Get the teens to be associated more with children who don’t smoke
- Help the teen practice saying, “No thanks, I don’t smoke.”
- Remind the teen that if he or she can hold out long enough, then the craving for nicotine will pass. They can choose a sugarless gum or cinnamon sticks to help them keep their mouths busy.
- Join a support group. Some hospitals and local organizations offer stop-smoking groups just for teens. Teen groups are available online, too.
- Consider stop-smoking medications like stop-smoking medications such as CigArrest stop smoking gums, patches, inhalers or nasal sprays.
- Learn from mistakes. If the teen slips, remain supportive. Congratulate the teen on the progress he or she has made so far, and encourage them not to give up.
With all these, it is extremely important to celebrate the teen’s success in staying smoke free. Small rewards and plenty of positive reinforcement can help the teen maintain the motivation to stop smoking for good.