There are two main ways that children of smokers are affected. The first is environmental tobacco smoke. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is an important -- and preventable -- cause of illness in infants and children. The second is that research shows that if parents smoke, children are more likely to smoke.
explanation
Unfortunately, a large proportion of children are exposed to tobacco smoke on a regular basis. Approximately 38% of U.S. children are exposed in their homes, usually because at least one of their parents is a smoker. Since most young children spend large amounts of time in their own homes, they can be exposed to quite a lot of smoke in this environment.
At this point, you may be thinking, "Wait a minute. Even if I'm a smoker when I start my family, I don't have to expose my children to tobacco smoke. I'll just go outside when I want to smoke, the same way that I would if I'm working or shopping in a place where smoking isn't allowed."
This sounds good in theory, but it turns out to be impractical in many cases. If you ever baby-sit, you will understand why. A parent (or babysitter) who is taking care of a child is often alone with that child, indoors, for long periods of time. If the parent or babysitter wants to smoke a cigarette, he or she has three choices:
Leave the child indoors and go outside for a smoke. This choice, as you probably understand if you baby-sit, is very dangerous if the child is less than about eight years old. Babies and young children need to be supervised at all times. They can't be left alone in their homes safely.
Go outside to smoke, and take the child with you. This works sometimes. But what about those times when the child is sleeping, eating, taking a bath or doing something else that can't be interrupted easily? What if the parent is doing something that can't be interrupted, such as cooking? What if you live in a tenth floor apartment? What if it's winter, and going outside for a few minutes means bundling the child (or perhaps several children) into many layers of clothing? Sometimes, bringing a child outside so that you can smoke can be very inconvenient.
Wait until someone else is available to watch the child, then go outside to smoke. This is probably the best solution, but it's not a pleasant situation for the smoker. Most smokers are addicted to nicotine. They don't just want to smoke; they need to smoke. Smokers who have to wait for hours to smoke a cigarette feel uncomfortable because of nicotine withdrawal symptoms. And the longer they go without cigarettes, the worse they feel. It's common for a parent to spend eight or nine hours alone with a child while the other parent is working. It would be very difficult for an addicted smoker to go without a cigarette for this length of time.
If Parents Smoke, Children Are More Likely to Smoke
If you smoke when you become a parent, there's one more way that your smoking may hurt your children, but it's not caused by tobacco smoke in the environment. It has to do with the example that your behavior sets for them. Research shows that children who have a parent who smokes are almost twice as likely as children of nonsmokers to become smokers themselves. However, there is some good news for parents who smoke -- if the parents quit smoking, their children are less likely to become smokers, especially if they quit before the child is nine years old.
