Madonna__'s 15-year-old daughter Lourdes Leon was caught smoking a cigarette last Friday, unleashing a barrage of commentary about what it must be like to be the child of a celebrity, as well as speculation as to from where/whom she could've picked the nasty habit. I, on the other hand, mostly wondered how somebody like Madonna would react to news that her daughter is smoking.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that we're supposed to parent by example and Madonna's example hasn't exactly been the most virtuous. I'm no angel either and I've often wondered how I'll go about telling my children not to do something when I do it (or I've done it) myself. In other words, how do parents tell their children that smoking is wrong when they've done worse things than smoking themselves?
Although there are still many years ahead of us for that to start happening in our home, here's how I plan on doing it.
Read more in ¿Qué más?: Shocking trend: Teen smoking is a major problem
For starters, as my children start getting a little older (they're only 2 and 5 right now), I'll explain that cigarettes cause cancer–a terrible disease that can kill you–and I'll tell them exactly how I know this is true. I'll be very honest with them and tell them that both their father and I smoked for several years and how it was one of the worst things we have done for our bodies. And then, I'll tell them why we finally quit.
You see, my husband was diagnosed with bladder cancer when he was only 31 years. (I say only because this is normally seen in much older men.) The idea of losing him after having just started a relationship with him was one of the most terrifying experiences we've ever gone through. Not to mention the pain, discomfort and overall uncertainty brought about by the operations and treatments in the months that followed this completely unexpected diagnosis.
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My husband had his last cigarette the day he was told he had cancer. Unbelievably, I kept on smoking for a couple more weeks. My way to deal with the stress, I guess. We'll never know for sure how much of a role cigarettes played in my husband's cancer, but we definitely know that the fact that he started smoking at 14 didn't do him any favors.
Luckily, my husband has been cancer free for almost 13 years. He still gets tested once a year and probably will have to for the rest of his life. The test is not only uncomfortable, but it's also painful since they have to put a tube with a camera through his urethra to look into his bladder. Now that I think about, I might start taking my children with us to their father's yearly check up. Hopefully, that'll serve as enough deterrent and I won't have to deal with them smoking when they become teenagers.
What would you do if you caught your teenager smoking?
Image via we are the kids your parents warned you about/flickr
