Stopping a Teen Smoking

busiscoming2

To cut a long story short, my 15yo DS2 is smoking and has been for at least a year. It would seem he stopped when he was going out with his last girlfriend as she hated it. He says he didn't do it all for about 4 months. He is quite open about talking about it to us (not in a bragging way). He knows how anti it I am and his father has suffered from a dreadful illness that was smoking related (he no longer smokes).

He says he likes doing it but doesn't know why he does it.

I am going to stop his allowance but other than that is there anything I can do to stop him?

Gillyx

See about getting him some NRT? It's hard to quit, and using NRT can increase the chance of quitting being successful by 70%

It all comes down to whether he wants to quit or not though obviously.

Tea-and-Cake_3

Where does he get the money for his cigarettes?

PinkLipgloss

I have no experience of this personally. However, given his age it might be worthwhile highlighting to him the impact it would have on potential non-smoking girlfriends.

Non-smoking teen girls would not IMO want to be dating someone who smells like an ashtray - its hardly attractive and as for kissing - yuck!

I actually remember turning down guys for this very reason - as did my mates in high school.

nearlyrich

You can get a quit kit from the NHS if HE wants to stop, you can't really make him stop he has to want to. Cutting the cash will help to make it harder for him to buy them but he might cadge them off his mates.

busiscoming2

Tea-and-Cake wrote: »

Where does he get the money for his cigarettes?

He gets an allowance at the moment of £30 per month, £10 of which is spent on his phone top up.

busiscoming2

Gillyx wrote: »

See about getting him some NRT? It's hard to quit, and using NRT can increase the chance of quitting being successful by 70%

It all comes down to whether he wants to quit or not though obviously.

I don't think he does to be honest.

There_Goes_Trouble

Sit him down with a pen and paper and get him to write down the songs he would like played and who he would like to speak..... at his funeral!! Perhaps making him think about it in such brutal terms might have a bit of an impact. Tell him that if he wishes to take up a potentially fatal hobby then you would like to know his wishes for when you have to plan his funeral. You could also get him some leaflets about pre-paid funeral plans and tell him to get saving because you're not prepared to pay for it...

I know nothing about teenagers (obviously!!!) but I think this would have had an impact on me at that age. (although I've always detested smoking, and yes, would never ever date a smoker. It's such a turn off!)

bylromarha

I smoked when young and my mum got me to quit.

She bought me a packet of 20 and told me that if I could smoke one after the other I would have her blessing.

I threw up after fag 11 and didn't smoke again for a good few years - even then it was a social fag once every few months.

Blackpool_Saver

I have tried and tried with my son,he stops for a while and then starts again, he has to want to stop. If only they could see into the future

Gillyx

If he doesn't want to quit, he won't. That's the bottom line really, and I think no amount of scare mongering will help