# first cigarette



## mama_kass (Jan 11, 2003)

Where and when did you get your first cigarette? I wanted to start this thread to find out where kids get cigarettes and when it happens. Maybe if I know when and where it happens I can do something to keep my children away from them. I hope this helps you too.

If you've NEVER smoked a cigarette in your life I'd like to hear why you never did. What did you parents, educators, and mentors do to make smoking seem unappealing to you?

My first cigarette came from my baby-sitter.







I was 8 and my sister was 5







Our babysitter would force us to smoke because she thought it was funny to see us get sick.

When I was 9 I started smoking on the weekends with another babysitter. She was 14 and I wanted to be cool like her so we would smoke together.


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## Colorful~Mama (Feb 20, 2003)

i got mine from my mothers purse. me and my three friends went into the woods behind the house to smoke them and practice looking cool


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## pip (Apr 3, 2003)

I never smoked a cigarette in my life because my parents did, and the horrid smell and watching them trying to give up put me off for life.

I don't recommend this method to put your kids off though!!


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## sadean (Nov 20, 2001)

I was 8 and got it from my older sister who was 12. She got it from either my step-father's stash (he wasn't allowed to smoke in the house, so he keep a carton of cigs in the back seat foot well of his car), the "general store" (the only store/party store in walking distance...would always sell, even to me if I said it was for my sister







: ) or she stole them from our other older sister who was 16 (at a point in history when it was legal for 16 year olds to buy). We sat on our log in the woods and smoked (which made me feel included). I never became a habitual smoker though, despite the early introduction. I do smoke occasionally socially, but DH thinks it is disgusting, so it it a rare occurance. I should note as well that cigs were $.75 a pack abck then









He by the way, much to his mother surprise, has never smoked anything. Never had an intrest and thinks it looks and smells totally gross.


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## Bladestar5 (Jan 5, 2003)

I was 14. My friend and I came across an unopened pack that was half-drenched in a puddle. We tried the ones that were dry enough to smoke. It was gross.







I couldn't understand how people would want something so disgusting!!!:LOL


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## Trishy (Oct 15, 2002)

Ugh I was such a bad kid. I stole a pack of cigarettes out of a car with the windows down when I was 11 on a dare. There was a group of us, about 4 or 5 and we went to the woods and smoked. In the wintertime my friends and I would put a carton of cigarettes under our big puffy coats at 7-11. The 7-11 my mother worked at!







My friends and I would steal from parents, beg drunks to buy cigarettes for us and smoke butts off of the ground. I got caught repeatedly and my dad even went so far as to put a bucket over my head and make me smoke til I puked when I was 16. I still kept smoking. I've only quit 4 times in my entire life, when I was in boot camp at 17, when I was pregnant with my daughter and son and this time around pg. I will not go back to smoking and I don't know why it has taken me 16 years to realize how stupid smoking is. I feel angry that I was so addicted. And still am. I quit 2 months ago and I still have an overwhelming urge from time to time to just have one more. I can never allow myself to have just one more. I hope to impress upon my children how much smoking took hold of my life and keep them from even starting.

ETA my quitmeter stats, thanks for remind me plum!:

8 weeks, 1 day, 17 hours, 58 minutes, 31 seconds since I quit.
577 cigarettes no smoked.
$51.35 saved, I smoked cheap cigarettes.


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## mountain mom (Nov 6, 2003)

I was probably about 11 and I straightened and lit one of my Mom's butts out of the ashtray. The lit ember hit the lino and I got in such trouble later. My 'smoking' went way underground after that, sneaking smokes from my friends parents packages. One could say I mirrored my parents since both smoked then but my sister never ever smoked and truly is the antismoker. I smoked for 20 years until dh and I began to toss the idea of trying for a baby around. I have been smoke free for three and a half years now!!!!
Some people, I believe, have a more addictive nature than others. I think its important to identify that early on and begin appropriate education. The Gov't here has done a lot of research into the fact that the current antismoking propaganda does not influence children to not start smoking so they have changed gears and are approaching it differently. One of the biggest drawbacks with trying to teach teens not to smoke is that they don't get that there is consequenses to their actions so the media is now addresses it differently by producing far more graffic ads on what is happening in the body as you smoke.
You can check it out at
http://tobacco.aadac.com/media_campaigns/what_if/
hopefully thatlink works


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## kate-astrophe (Jan 26, 2004)

I got my first cigarette from my best friend, whose father smoked. I was fifteen, and a freshman in high school. After that, I found I could buy them at the 7-11 near school.

I smoked on and off until I was 24. I quit because I wanted to get pregnant. I didn't have any trouble quitting, even after smoking a pack a day. I quit cold turkey and never looked back.


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## plum (Mar 7, 2003)

i started smoking at twelve. i would steal them from my mom. in junior high, we would smoke butts we found in outdoor ashtrays. we called it 'chode surfing.' we also called them refries.

i smoked until around new years day of last year, when suddenly it made me sick. i didn't understand why, but i stopped anyway. i found out three weeks later i was pregnant.

check out this site: http://quitmeter.com

for me, it's been 56 weeks, 6 days; 11,940 cigarettes not smoked; and $1,791.00 saved.

on occasion, i still miss it for some reason. but i won't ever smoke again.


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## StillForest (Nov 27, 2001)

I NEVER tried a cigarette because my father, a four packs a day smoker through my childhood, would blow smoke at me and then complain (and even make fun of me) when I coughed and had difficulty breathing. The smoke always made me feel sick.

My childhood was loads of fun. Not an aversive technique that I'd recommend.

When I was in my early teens I also saw a photo of a smoker's lung. Very scary. If I hadn't had enough disincentive before, I think that that picture would have done it.


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## P-chan (Jan 23, 2004)

Great topic!

I smoked my first, and only, cigarette my senior year of college. No joke. It was on a good-natured dare from a friend who just couldn't imagine me doing it. I didn't get sick or any kind of buzz, but I think I was doing it wrong.

Throughout high school and college I wasn't a total goody-goody (really!), but I did generally hang out with "good" kids who were involved in a lot of activities and did well in school--and who didn't smoke. I don't remember my parents ever talking to me specifically about not smoking, but there were many unspoken expectations about responsibility, academic performance, etc. I played a musical instrument and took ballet, two activities that demand a healthy set of lungs.

For the record, I would NOT recommend my parents' method of not talking about smoking. It worked for me (I was a late bloomer on the rebellion front, so by the time I got around to it smoking was not dramatic enough), but I am not going to count on it working for my kids. I'm not sure what works though, because my son is only 8 months, but I would love to hear what others have done!


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## oceanbaby (Nov 19, 2001)

When I was about 6 or so my my stepsister and I used to sneak cigarette butts from her mom and 'smoke' them in the backyard.

When I was about 7, my dad offered to let me try one of my stepmother's cigarettes, and I thought it was disgusting.

From school age until now, I have smoked a total of maybe 5 cigarettes, and those have usually been when drinking.







:

My mom smoked cigarettes when I was in school, and I had bronchitis every year until she quit.

I don't know why I never started smoking, but it just never appealed to me.


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## Bearsmama (Aug 10, 2002)

My father was a big smoker and after some family trauma, a friend I sneaked into his bathroom and smoked a cigarette. I think I was 14 yo. I was never a smoker, but over the years, I had a few more. I am very anti-smoking. But kids will be kids....I think it's a danger thing, or something that it seems many teens are attracted to. Scary to think of when my beautiful toddler is running around!!


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## aussiemum (Dec 20, 2001)

9 years old, with my cousin who was a few years older- stole it out of my dad's pack of smokes & sneaked around the back of the barn to try it out. Started smoking for real at 16- wanted to look cool at parties! Have quit off & on since then- still smoking at 33. And don't the yellow fingers and teeth look cool now!


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## IdentityCrisisMama (May 12, 2003)

I had my first cigarette the summer before 6th grade. How old is that? In the end, I have a high tolerance for cigarette addiction, something I'm rather proud of, and I have never been "addicted" although I have chosen to smoke on occasion throughout the years.

DH, OTOH, is seriously addicted and, although he quit for the first two years of DC's life, he started again when we moved to Europe.

Personally, I hope they tax the sh!t out of them because DH says that is that a high price is the only thing that would have stopped him as a child.

Anyway, good on you for trying many methods to prevent addiction in your children.


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## CerridwenLorelei (Aug 28, 2002)

I got caught and they told me if I was going to do it use my allowance -which I did
gave me house rules for doing it --
I wanted to be like dad pure and simple.

At 14 I met a guy I really wanted to go out with. he crushed my cigs and said "if you want to go out with me these have got to go"

And I really really wanted to go out with him







it wasn't easy though to quit cold turkey
gum and a rubiks pyramid that a friend changed around to make unsolvable

April will be 22 yrs smoke free


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## nikirj (Oct 1, 2002)

Let's see - I was 13 and my cousin had stolen a couple from my grandpa's drawer (he was a major smoker - quit last year after 62 years of smoking, cold turkey because something spooked him - he seems so much healthier now!). Anyhow, we headed out to the woods and tried them. I didn't have one of those gag-and-choke-and-vomit kinds of reactions, but I didn't see what the big deal was, either. I've probably had 3 cigarettes my whole life. I just don't see the point.

Honestly, I am just this kind of personality. I don't see the point of smoking, so I don't smoke. I don't drink much, either (but I will ocassionally, because I DO see some point to drinking). I think that it is a part of the very academic thought process my parents encouraged in us (we ask WHY about every little thing).


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## Piglet68 (Apr 5, 2002)

I started when I was about 14, due to the influence of a friend. I didn't inhale, however. I just thought it was a cool and rebellious thing to do. I was able to buy smokes myself - I don't think there was an age limit back then (either that or the guy at the corner store didn't care).

When I was 18 I started doing the night club scene. The smoke was so thick and everybody I knew and lived with (housemates) smoked. I honestly don't remember exactly when I started for real (inhaling) but it was some time around then.

I smoked for over 10 years, but rarely exceeded 5 cigs a day, and almost always in the evening. I don't know why, but smoking in the morning made me really ill. I was never really that addicted, though in times of stress I did smoke alot more (never a pack though. Half a pack a day would be extreme for me).

I quit the day I found out I was pregnant. I was waiting to see the results on my little pee stick and thinking "this could be the last cigarette you have for a looooong time". DH quit at the same time. He was really more a social smoker anyway.

It was very easy to quit, being pregnant. I do occaisonally get a craving for a smoke, but the thought of it on my skin and hair etc and DD cuddling up to me just grosses me out.

Okay, a few months ago my uncle was visiting and late one night after alot of wine, DH and I bummed one off him. I took two puffs and choked so hard. It hurt!! I was really shocked at how much my lungs had "healed" having not smoked for over a year. That was more reason not to start up again.

In British Columbia (my home province) a pack of smokes is almost $8.







When I saw that, I was even MORE glad I don't smoke anymore.

I do miss it sometimes - having a smoke with a glass of wine is quite satisfying. But I really don't think I'll ever smoke again. And I'm glad!


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## grisandole (Jan 11, 2002)

I got my first one from my seventh grade science teacher! Really! As part of an anti-smoking thing, we each had to "smoke" a cig using this plastic contraption thing (I know that isn't very descriptive)....you put the cig in it and pump it so that it's "smoking" and then it changed colors or something to illustrate how bad smoking was. Anyway, I kept the butt and took it home and "smoked". LOL!

Kristi


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## DarkHorseMama (Mar 8, 2003)

I think I was about 15 when I shared a smoke with a friend. I "smoked" off and on (largely off) until I was 19. At some point it went from strictly a weekend thing to, "ooo! outta cigs! gotta get more!"







:

My dad smoked when my brothers and I were younger and we made all the appropriate faces and groans whenever he would light up.





















uke







: Of course, we all ended up as smokers. I seem to be the only one who has stayed quit. According to Quitmeter: 160 weeks, 2 days! (January 2001)

Gave up smoking a couple of weeks after I found out I was pregnant with DD. DH followed, with the help of Zyban, a few weeks after that. Both of us still have occasional urges, but they are definitely psychological and very transient. Like many "reformed" smokers, we cannot *stand* to be around other smokers and loathe the smell. <cough, cough!>


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## OlyMama (Sep 15, 2003)

I was in the fifth grade. My friend (same age) liked to steal pretty much anything from the Stop N Go and a couple of times she stole cigs. We didn't really know how to smoke them of course, but they made us sick anyway. I liked it better when she stole candy


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## rwikene (Jun 10, 2002)

I've never smoked...but my mom did for most of my childhood.

The reason I never started, for me, it is the smell uke yucky!!! when my mom finally quit (I was 12 I think) I became allergic to the smoke and my throat would start to close up if I was around it at all. I still to this day get the most aweful headaches if I'm around smoke, or someone who has been smoking.

Ok, wanna know something weird?

I crave cigarettes, never smoked them but crave them when I'm stressed







I think maybe it is b/c of all that second hand smoke from when I was a kid

I also have dreams about me smoking all the time! weird







:


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## ~Jenna~ (Dec 7, 2003)

I was nine and my best friend from across the street stole them from her dad. Until we were about 16 we stole them from my mom and her dad and would smoke mostly the butts. At about 16 we could buy them whenever we wanted to.

My dh started in the Navy because smokers got breaks to go outside so he started smoking to get breaks too







: .

Fortunately we quit about 8 years ago. You know from reading over this it seems like most people got started because their parents smoked!


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## anothermama (Nov 11, 2003)

Well, *technically* my first cig was a butt I found on the way to school when I was maybe 10 or 11. My parents never smoked and were, in fact, very anti smoking....and I was curious.

That was just that one time.

Then, when I was 16 I started doing summer theatre at the local community college and had my first real cig from one of my older castmates....more of a trying to be cool and fit in thing.

I smoked socially until I got preg with my dd at 22. The last year, I lived in the UK and smoked pretty regularly, but still only about half a pack a day. In the states I smoked cloves but in the UK Marlboroughs. I quit cold turkey when got preg and never had a craving since. I smoked like a chimney in the bars in the UK, but really it was just cause everyone else does..........


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## Bella&Boo (Feb 4, 2004)

I haven`t smoked a cigarette since Dec. 15th 2000!!









And haven`t missed it much, either.

I think I got my fisrt cigarette from my moms purse, like someone else wrote...









I was 9-10 years old, and smoking was soo cool.

But I didn`t start smoking until I was 20. And quit at 28.


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## DalaiMama (Oct 12, 2002)

I got my first smoke from my older brother, who was "the bad one."







: I think I was twelve, and we smoked it in our living room while our parents were away. We didn't worry about getting caught, because my dad is such a heavy smoker that the ceilings in my parents' house are stained yellow from all the smoke. uke That was the only cigarette I had until I went away to college. It was part of my art student perogative to smoke a pack a day. I smoked pretty heavily from the time I was 18 until I was 21 and found out I was pregnant. It's been almost three years and 14,000 cigarettes not smoked... I still smoke very rarely, maybe once every six months, one cig on the rare occasion that I'm found in a bar that I'm not tending.


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## LunaMom (Aug 8, 2002)

I was 14, and it was my mom's cigarette.

I smoked on and off in high school and college, and quit before my 21st birthday.

I'm thrilled to see that most of us are saying we got them from our parents, or our friend's parents, because neither I nor my husband smokes, and except for one, none of our friends or DD's friends' parents do. I rarely see anyone smoking at all, now that it's banned in restaurants and parks and so on. I love it.


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## CeraMae (Apr 25, 2003)

I got my first smoke from my mom's ashtray. I was 100% anti-smoking teenager and thought it was the worst, grossest thing on earth. I kid you not, one day I was sitting on the couch next to the ashtray and the smell made me crave it. I lit up a cigarette butt and started smoking. I was 13. I didn't quit until 2 years ago.


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## beatgirl (Dec 10, 2003)

I had a girlfriend who smoked in high school. I thought it was disgusting...but one day she left her cigs at my house and I lit one up and tried to blow smoke rings until I almost threw up!uke
You would think I would never do that again...but oh no..
I soon started smoking regularly until I was finished with college. At that point I got pg with dd#1 and quit cold turkey....unfortunately I started again when she was about 2 and then quit again when I was pg with ds....then I started again after he was finished bf at about 12 months.
Then...10 years later and a lot of off again on again attempts to quit , I FINALLY stopped last year. I found out I was pg with dd#2 a week later....

56weeks, 5days, 5969 cigs not smoked,$1551 saved

I smoked expensive Canadian cigs about a half a pack a day on average.....I miss it almost everyday.

Congrats to those who have made it!!!


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## noodle4u (Jul 19, 2002)

My first cigarette, I picked up off the street after a man had dropped it. I was 8 and walking home from school.
My second cigarette came from a freinds dad (I stole one out of his pack), I learned the proper smoking technique from an older sister when I was 12.
And I regularily got cigarettes from a neighbour for babysitting thier children (14yrs and up). I was also given free access to booze and mary-jane. I have a horribly addictive personality too. I stopped drugs when I was 16 because of a couple of bad experiences. Drank socially only, and quit smoking when I was in my 6 month of pregnancy. I tried to quit as soon as I found out I was pregnant, but the harder I tried to quit the harder it actually was. Until I gave up trying, and then one day I woke up and was ready







, so I quit







.
It will be two years March 11.
I tried a puff last July just out of curiosity and was horribly sick.
Oh I started smoking to be cool, and because I had a really controling mother and it gave me satisfaction to do something she didnt approve of.


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## Shann (Dec 19, 2003)

I started smoking, believe it or not, on my 9th birthday, courtesy of my uncle, who thought it would be "cute" to give me a cig. I actually liked it, even though I coughed alot at first. My mom, who was a heavy smoker herself, didn't seem to mind, and would periodically give me some of her own cigs. I am still a smoker and, to be honest, have never had the desire to quit, and probably never will. My two boys (ages 5 and 7 ) haven't yet shown alot of interest or curiosity in it, but I will probably end up letting them make their own decisions about it later on. Probably not what you all wanted to hear, but just the way I see it.


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## mcimom (Jun 8, 2002)

I didn't smoke until I was in college. I smoked my first pack of cigarettes in one night







in an effort to get a friend of mine to quit. I said if he didn't stop then I'd pick it up. Believe it or not, it worked.

I then started smoking cloves only with my now dh and his roommates. Just socially.

Then in grad school, my best friend smoked and I picked it up socially as well.

Luckily it's never been an "addiction" for me and I'm such a "social smoker" that I've never had a cigarette by myself in my life. Obviously, it was more than easy to not smoke when I got pg.

I guess the reason I never did it (even though my mom was a smoker) is that a) I didn't even find out she was a smoker until I was 14 - she never did it around us. and b) all those public school anti-smoking programs got to me. Also, where I grew up, it was the "losers" that smoked and the cool kids were more the drinkers, so... peer pressure worked in my favor there.


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## mimie (Mar 7, 2003)

I smoked at a Medeski Martin & Wood concert when I was 23. That was the first time ever. I was always very anti-smoking because I watched my dad struggle to quit my entire life. At the MMW concert, though, I was drunk, and everyone was lighting up EVERYTHING. I thought "Why not? At least it's legal!" I liked it, but I cannot tell you how completely sick I was the next day. After that, I think I smoked two more times, both when I was out with friends and drinking. But the cigarettes combined with alcohol just gave me the most excruciating hangovers that I was never tempted to do it again.

I had a strong, healthy resistance to smoking through childhood and high school due to my dad's struggle to quit a 40 year addiction. My best friend in high school smoked, and I used to buy her cigs for her (I was older) and make her pay me $5 per pack, so she wouldn't be able to buy very much. My little black market.







I think trying it a couple times as an adult was simply curiosity, to see what all the fuss was about.


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## mamaroni (Sep 12, 2003)

I was in about 6th grade, and it was my dad's. I actually knocked my eyeglasses off my face and they got a huge chip in them when I was fanning the smoke away from my face! I had to make up a lie about a bee in order to get my glasses fixed.

(seems like almost everyone got their first cig from their parents. . . )

I smoked on and off socially through high school and college, then more heavily during grad school, but I was never a wake-up-and-light-up-and-smoke-a-pack-a-day kind of smoker. I've quit while preg, but gone back in between a little. This time I'm determined NOT to go back. My dh smokes, though, so it's going to be tough! Despite how disgusting and unhealthy it is, I do enjoy it from time to time with a cocktail.


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## SaraC (Jan 11, 2002)

I started smoking when I was about 11 just to fit in. I think I got it from one of my friends older siblings. I would steal them out of my parents stash until I got old enough(or look old enough) to buy them. I smoked all through high shcool and until I was 19. I then moved in with my boyfriend(now DH) who was a non-smoker. He and our roommate hated smoking and wouldn't let me smoke in the house. It was winter and it only took about 3 weeks of smoking outside to make me want to quit. That and the fact that it was costing a fortune. I have been smoke free since 1999. WOW!!

I am totally ani-smoking now. I recently watched my father die of lung cancer(1 1/2 packs a day/ 35+ years) and it was the most horrible thing I have ever wittnessed. I want to go stand outside a tobacco company wearing a shirt that says "Smoking Kills Daddys". I pray that my children never start smoking.


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## cottonwood (Nov 20, 2001)

I have smoked a few tobacco cigarettes socially (while drinking) but dislike the smell and taste enough that I was never inclined to smoke enough to become addicted. However, I did start smoking _clove_ cigarettes when I was 26. I had just been through an awful divorce and was going out a lot and was cultivating a devil-may-care sort of attitude. I liked the smell, and the rush. I did get addicted, though only slowly and not badly. (I think cloves must have less nicotine than regular cigarettes?) Several times I've taken it up again and then quit when I felt myself becoming addicted (or when pregnant.)


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## Marsupialmom (Sep 28, 2003)

I think my first cigarette was at school. Honestly, I don't know.

I know I stole my moms (hummmmm think relatives can be a major contributing factor).

I don't think you can prevent them from being in situations but give them the skills and desires to say NO.

Offer them freedom but not blind freedom. I know when I started at 11-12 I had way too much freedom. I was depressed. I had no friends. My dad was abusive and my mom caught in her own self-centered world (still is, but that is another story). I had/have a very abusive brother. My sister was/is not someone I could go to or feel loved by. This list goes on.

Give your child a home they want to come home to. A home with love and not a major need to feel like they have to do anything and everything to fit in. Help them learn/gain their confidence and identity. Give them a since of well-being. Be involved, don't assume because they are XX years old they don't need your input on decisions or "authority".

I also did drugs and drank. I know the kids that did not stick around into the drug scene were the ones with that had the above. These things don't make your kids infallible but less likely to feel a need to drink, smoke, or do drugs. It will make them less likely to stick around/participate.

I have not smoked in 7 years. I still want to from time to time. I honestly think my mind was rewired plus I have tendencies to compulsive behaviors (so does a lot of people in my family).


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## sincitymama (Sep 20, 2003)

This is a great thread, think I'll come out of hiding to post my story.

Growing up, almost all the adults around me smoked. It was just normal to me, something I assumed I'd do too when I was old enough.
My mom always gave me the 'don't ever start this it's so hard to quit' lecture, but when she was pointing around with a lit cig, it didn't have much affect.
I first tried it around 11/12, with a friend, and thought it was just gross. I tried it again around 15, same friend, inhaled that time, and 20 minutes later I was craving another one. From then on I was a smoker. Apparently I have a super addictive personality, or something.
I didn't quit until I got pregnant last year, and even then it was very very hard for me. I have a nursling almost 2 months old now, and still crave it all the time. Nobody in my family smokes indoors anymore, after a couple babies with breathing problems (oddly enough, born to the non-smokers) and some heart problems in the adults.
Looking at my friends and I, I'd say the biggest factor was exposure. Those of us who smoked, saw it as totally normal, and those who didn't grew up with it being something 'other people' did.

Slightly OT, but what's this quit meter people keep mentioning? Sounds really cool, and pretty motivational. Thanks!


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## plum (Mar 7, 2003)

go to http://quitmeter.com and enter in your info and it will tell you how long you've been smoke-free, how much money you've saved and how many you haven't smoked.


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## sincitymama (Sep 20, 2003)

Thanks Plum!


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## eilonwy (Apr 3, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by mama_kass_
*
My first cigarette came from my baby-sitter.







I was 8 and my sister was 5







Our babysitter would force us to smoke because she thought it was funny to see us get sick.
*















:







I can't believe that no one else has commented on this.. How awful for you!

I had my first cigarette (actual inhaling) when I was 14, and it came from a friend. I'm not sure where he was getting them, I never asked. My mother never smoked; her mother did and she just thought it was a sad habit. She also used to go on these rants about poor people who smoked cigarettes. She said she'd rather keep the money and buy non-generic cereal or leather shoes for her kids than waste it on a filthy habit. :LOL I'll never forget those discussions, especially the one that came up while we were watching "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". (Grandpa Joe gives up his one pipe a day habit saying something like "when a loaf of bread looks like a feast, I've got no right to smoke". )

At any rate, the reason I smoked my first cigarettes was the same reason I started drinking, smoking pot, and doing all sorts of odd prescription pills. I had always thought that drugs of any kind were silly and a waste of time until I was put on an anti-depressant at 14. For the first time in my life, I wasn't miserable, but I wasn't happy either. My mother asked me how I felt after school and I told her I didn't know, I didn't have a word for it. She said "Oh, you feel 'fine'." It was a huge epiphany; drugs can, in fact, alter the way you feel. After that, I wanted to try everything I could get my hands on, and I did.







:

I never smoked a lot of cigarettes; I enjoyed pot much much more.







So I think, over the whole time I was smoking (about nine years) I smoked about 3 packs of cigs, maybe 3.5. Cloves are a different story.. I like the way they smell and taste and I got a real kick out of them. But I always offered to anyone who said "ooh, are you smoking a clove? those are so cool!" on campus. They'd feel bad, but I'd say "Hey, I definately don't need the whole pack!" :LOL I smoked a fair number of cloves, right up until I found out I was pregnant with Elibean. I probably smoked the last one less than a week before I found out for sure. I miss cloves occasionally, and am looking forward to having a few in the future, but right now I've got more important things on my mind.


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## veganmamma (Sep 10, 2002)

I took some from my dad's office, I knew he'd forgotten about. After stealing them for a few months he never would have noticed anyway. :LOL I tried it because I was bored and curious and he was already in bed and I was up. I was just saying today that it has been almost two years since I last smoked and I still want a ^$*&% cigarette. Just the sound makes me want to smoke. Mmmmmm....

Of course I haven't even come close, except once in my early postpartum days I was stressed out and didn't really want to smoke it, I was threatening DP saying I would smoke it and he was like, go ahead, I was like *damn* you called my bluff. LOL!!

So I am a smoker at heart. I know, sue me. I won't smoke again, at least not until all my children are done nursing and never in front of them. You know, like a cigar with the boys once in awhile. :LOL Who am I kidding, I can't ever smoke again, I"ll start right back up.
Lauren


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## merpk (Dec 19, 2001)

First was from my brother. He and a friend took me and a friend to a Mets game, and every time one of us would ask one of them a question, (read: bother them) they would hand us a cigarette (to keep us otherwise occupied, I guess). Took us the whole game to figure out how to inhale.

I was in 7th grade. My bro was in 9th (and already smoking).

The next time I tried them was in the back of our school building, with two friends who were already smoking as regularly as 7th graders can smoke.

The friend who went with me to the ballgame started taking cigarettes from her father and giving me packs all the time. He smoked that vile Vantage brand, with the hole in the filter. We thought they were just the coolest thing.

FWIW, I smoked for 19 years. Quit smoking almost 10 years ago, right after meeting DH. DH quit 20 years ago. We were each heavy (1 - 2 packs a day) smokers for over a decade of our smoking lives.

And we both still have "smoking dreams" on occasion (when you're smoking cigarettes in your dreams and sometimes even wake up feeling that just-smoked feeling in your chest). And each occasionally want (involuntarily) a cigarette on occasion.

Which is evidence to me of how totally scary cigarettes are.


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## Greaseball (Feb 1, 2002)

I first smoked when I was 13. I got a cigarette from my 12-year-old boyfriend. Who knows where he got it.

I didn't start smoking again until age 17. I was living with friends, most of whom were adults who all smoked, and one day I just asked if I could try one. I smoked here and there until I was 18, and by then it was a pack a day.

I quit when I was 22 and pg with dd, and haven't smoked again since. It's been almost 3 years.









My mom didn't smoke (cigarettes...) but my dad did. I mostly lived with my mom, though.

I think the best thing I can do as a parent is not smoke. The rest is out of my hands.


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## jeca (Sep 21, 2002)

I've never smoked a cigarette in my life and have never tried. Both my parents smoke and I have always since a little girl thought it was the most repugnent oder ever. never have I even wanted to try. In the same token their is no smoking in my home but my kids have seen their grandparents smoke and have tried smoking things like crayons as young as 2 years old.


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## KarenEMT (Aug 10, 2002)

I had my first cigarette at age 13 during an outside project in science class. The teacher went back down the hill and into the school to get some supplies. A "cool" girl offered me a cigarette and I accepted. What a foolish mistake!

I spent the next 15 years trying to kick the habit (finally did in March of 2001). I even quit smoking during my 1st pregnancy and BFing but went right back as soon as my son was weaned.

I was raised in a nonsmoking household and my mother was severely asthmatic. I knew all about the dangers of smoking. However, my parents tried to be too strict with me, wouldn't let me dress the way I wanted or even try any makeup, so I rebelled, and smoking was the first stupid thing of many that I did.


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## teachma (Dec 20, 2002)

I asked my boyfriend to buy a pack so I could try them. I was 16 years old, embarrassed to be caught buying them, but interested in trying something new. I think I was just feeling bored. From that day, I smoked on and off, in college more than a pack a day for four years, until I was 25 and conceived my son. Now it has been 4 years and 2 months since my last cigarette, and I will never smoke again. I always said I would smoke only until I had a baby, and I was true to that. Luckily for me, it was easy for me to quit. It is certainly not the case for all smokers.


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## phoebekate (May 31, 2002)

wow this is such an interesting thread, some of your stories are so shocking to me. I have never tried a cigarette and never wanted to. I don't recall EVER being offered one either. I was about to say that I don't recall a single adult in my life smoking when I was a kid and then I remembered my dad did - DUH! My parents were separated and I lived with him part time (about a 1/3 I think). I don't know if this makes sense but although I was daddy's girl but always my mothers daughter. I recall being disgusted by the smell and by the stains on the walls from Dad smoking inside at his house. Then he repainted and no-one, including himself was aloud to smoke inside. And that was the only significant house hold in my life I can recall where anyone was aloud to smoke in doors, smoking was always a bad habit that if you had to you did outside alone while everyone else stayed away from you. I had a great relationship with my mum, never lied to her, was not very rebelious, but I can recall at some point (probably early teens) her telling me she would throw me out if I ever smoked and believing her. That sounds pretty harsh but I also recall thinking "EEEEEWWWWW - AS IF!". I had a friend in school who smoked like a chimeny but it was a matter of pride for her that I didn't smoke so not only did she not offer she would have lectured me if I tried to start and if other friends of hers didn't know and tried to offer she would speak up for me (before I could speak myself) so I never felt like I was the one being daggy saying no.

I think where you are locationally has an impact, When DH and I moved state 5 years ago we went from having literally NO friends who smoked to being in the minority. We went from a state where it was illegal to smoke in cafes and restuarants to one where if you complained about smoke the waiters asked you to leave if yu didn't like it because the smokers were better business....


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## Leatherette (Mar 4, 2003)

I had my first cigarette when I was eleven, and started smoking regularly when I was thirteen. I initailly got them from my parents, unbeknownst to them, until I figured out that Camels tasted great and Kool menthols were nasty in comparison.

I think that having parents that smoked really led me to smoking, not peer pressure at all. In fact, I hid it from my friends initially. I quit smoking a while before I had my first son, and I never want him to see me smoking and think that I think it's okay. It has been 5 years and 4 months since I quit.

I still miss it at times, though. Why? Part of it is being young enough to think you are invinceable. I miss that.

L.


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## Britishmum (Dec 25, 2001)

My grandmother died of lung cancer when I was about 11. She scared me to death, by puffing on a cigarette and telling me that this was what it did to her. She was lying in bed wheezing and close to the end at that time.

I never, ever put one to my lips because of this image. She did this to all her grandchildren, and it worked.


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## spero (Apr 22, 2003)

I have never smoked, because my parents DID.

I have an extremely heightened sense of smell and taste. My childhood memories, good and bad, revolve around odors and tastes. When I think of Sunday afternoons, I remember driving endless miles in the car, with the windows up (couldn't ruin Mom's hairdo







: ) and the car thick with cigarette smoke and my mother's perfume, aptly named _Ambush_. No wonder I got carsick all the time.

uke uke uke

I can't think of many habits grosser than smoking. Honestly, I would rather see someone pick their nose! Thankfully, my dad quit many years ago; but my mom is hopelessly addicted....she has tried everything to quit, but panics when she gains a couple of pounds and goes right back to her nasty habit. I would rather see her chubby (she could stand to put on a couple pounds anyway) than sucking smoke up her nose, any day. I can barely stand to hug and kiss my own mother, simply because she smells so awful it literally makes me gag.







Whenever we visit her house, we all have to come home and strip off everything and wash it right away....we are all so sensitive to the smell. My kids hate it too....they see that there is nothing cool about it; and now they worry about my mom b/c we all watched HER mother die a slow, agonizing death from emphysema two years ago









My mom is OUTRAGED that she can no longer smoke in her favorite restaurants & bars. We had a big argument one day about smokers' "rights"....I asked her what about NON-smokers' rights? Her typical answer..."Well, you have the right not to eat there if you don't like the smoke."

I did try to smoke a cigarette, ONCE...I couldn't even keep it lit







My cousin laughed her a** off at me, "You can't even smoke a cigarette?!?" Guess who's hopelessly addicted, now...

Smoking, ugh.


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## Kirsten (Mar 19, 2002)

Have never smoked. Probably for a variety of reasons.

1) Second grade - they showed us a pig lung that had been exposed to cigarette smoke. It was black and disgusting. They als showed us a nice, healthy pink lung that wasn't exposed to the smoke. That made an impact. Though I have my issues with animal testing, that pig did have a huge impact on my class - most of us are not smokers.

2) My dad smoked more than a pack a day all through my childhood - until he died at age 39 from a heart attack. I remember riding in the car and being in the house with all the smoke but don't remember it being a big deal - it was just the way it always was so seemed normal to me at the time. But the impact part came after he died and I was with my mom while she was talking to Dad's doctor. He said that smoking was one of many vices Dad had - and that each one took ten years off his life. He had quite a few (drinking, smoking, overweight, high blood pressure, high cholesterol). I could stand to lose some weight and am working on it currently (have lost 10 pounds so far!) but don't drink or smoke at all. BP and cholesterol are fine. Again, not a great way to show by bad example but it did have an effect.

3) I never smoked for rebellion because my teen years were spent with an aunt and uncle (mom died two years after dad) and I had two rules - don't get pregnant and don't get killed. No reason to drink, smoke, etc. for rebellion when they really don't care if you do or don't. Let your kids wear what they want, do their hair how they want, go to sleep when they want. I think I got better grades (was always on honor roll) and behaved better because I wanted to - it benefitted me - not because someone was guilting me into it. I had lots of choices and lots of responsiblity for myself - and it worked very well.

4) Re: peer pressure - I think any child who has a high self esteem has little to worry about in regards to peer pressure. I was often offered cigs, booze, drugs. I just declined. Only once (I think because people knew I didn't do it but was not high and mighty about it - if others wanted to that was not my business) - anyway, only once did a girl get in my face and ask if I thought I was "too good" for it. Most people took the "cool - more for me" attitude.

5) Just the yuck factor - dirty, expensive, bad for you. Why spend money on that? I had less money but more to spend than most of my college friends - because they spent theirs on booze and smokes.

Have been grateful that I never tried one. With all you hear about addiction, I was worried to try anything (cigs, drugs, whatever) that was bad for you - what if you like it?? Not hard to say no to what you don't know but a lot harder if you try it and like it. Wish I had never tried Ben & Jerry's.....








Kirsten


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