Can smoking in front of your parents be considered as disrespectful?

Yes

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by Carolyn Tytler

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Smoking in front of your parents can be considered disrespectful for a number of reasons, although I must admit that there was a time when I did it as a matter of habit. I regret those occasions now. Perhaps had I acted differently, they might both have lived a little longer.

* Smoking in front of your parents damages their health. Scientists have proven that second-hand smoke is more dangerous to those in the immediate vicinity than to the smoker himself. Second-hand smoke has twice as much nicotine and tar and five times as much carbon monoxide.

Second-hand smoke contains 4000 chemicals in all, 50 of which are carcinogens. Exposure causes cancer, stroke. heart disease, bronchitis, damages blood vessels, , and worsens the frequency and severity of asthma attacks. After the smoke is inhaled, the blood carries toxic substances to every organ in the body.

Are these really the types of gifts anyone wishes to give his or her parents?

* Smoking is damaging your own health. It's true that your health is your own business , but think of the effect it will have on your parents when your health breaks down.

No one knows exactly how many cigarettes it takes before there are serious consequences . If you become seriously ill, or worse, consider the effect it will have on your parents. It will break their hearts and older folks don't weather life's traumas as easily as younger people.

Cigarettes may not only put you in an early grave, they could rob your parents of their remaining golden years. Even now, they probably worry about your harmful addiction.

* After the cigarette is extinguished, there will traces for your parents to contend with. The area where you smoked will have an unpleasant odor. You probably wouldn't notice, because smokers are oblivious to the smell, but others can smell it on your clothes and hair, as well as on the curtains, rugs and furniture of the room where you were sitting.

If you visit and smoke often, the walls and windows will soon develop a nasty beige tinge which makes the painted surfaces look drab and dull.

If your parents take pride in their home, or if they suffer from allergies, your habit is costing them dearly for room deodorizers, air cleaners, frequent paint jobs and furniture and curtain replacements.

Smoking in front of one's parents is not only disrespectful, it is selfish, harmful, and possibly disastrous. I speak from experience.

For many years, I smoked at home. My parents smoked, my sister smoked and many of our visitors smoked. In the 1950s, the extent of the danger caused by cigarette smoking was not generally known. We all puffed merrily away, although my mother suffered from severe asthma, and my dad after had his first heart attack in his early fifties.

After suffering several more, he finally succumbed to heart disease, and Mother died from a brain tumor. Personally, I had a continual cough and many bouts of bronchitis before I finally kicked the habit.

Quitting was the smartest thing I ever did. Had I not done so, I probably would not have survived to write this article.

Smoking in front of your parents is much more than disrespectful, it should be considered a form of assault. For the smoker himself, the habit is no less than a form of prolonged suicide.

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