Parents who smoke should learn how to go outside and away from their children to do it. I know this for a fact. Speaking from the point of view of someone who does smoke and smoked around her children when they were young, I fully admit that I was one hundred percent wrong to do it.

I love my children more than anything in the world. I worried about them as they were growing just like any other parent does. The problem was, I didn't realize what I was doing to their little lungs. Never once did it occur to me that I was the one making my daughter sick all the time.

She turned out fine. However, we spent a lot of time at the hospital and doctors offices when she was little. This was probably more the fault of smoking around her than anything else. I feel guilty about that to this very day. My opinions have changed a lot over the years.

My granddaughter comes to visit, smoking isn't an option unless going outside to do so. Her other grandparents weren't so kind about it. My daughter lived with them for a while when her daughter was just born. They would smoke in the house and in the car when the baby was there. When I would see my granddaughter, she would always be stuffed up or coughing. Since she is no longer in a smoking environment, she no longer has those issues.

It is not fair to a child to put them in a room full of smoke. It's not alright to put them in a closed up car while you smoke there. It affects their health so much more than you realize. It just takes to admitting up to it and changing it. After all, they don't have a choice in the matter.

It is one thing to endanger your own health. It is quite another to endanger an innocent life that hasn't even begun to live their life. If you can't quit smoking, how much does it really take to wait a little while before you smoke. How much does it really take to step outside to light up. It takes a lot less time to do that than it does to run to the doctors and hospital every time you turn around.

No one is asking you to stop smoking. At least, I am not. Do as you will. Just be a little considerate of the children's lungs. They are very vulnerable to illness and should be treated as such.

Learn more about this author, Dawn Hawkins.
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