A Parent's Desire to Quit Smoking

For some smokers, finding an alternative to traditional cigarettes is personal; very personal. Smoking is not limited to only young people or old. Cigarettes encompass the lives of middle-class Americans raising families of their own. With every craving and cigarette lit, a smoker can look around and see their future running around them, laughing and playing, in their children. Overcome with the desire to make a difference, in what their children see as acceptable, aches deep in the pit of a parent’s stomach. The urge to share every bit of health information they can is there. As a parent, they want to provide a positive example, especially when it comes to one of the most difficult addictions to overcome.

Shame, guilt, and disappointment in oneself makes quitting cigarettes even more of a challenge. The stakes are simply higher. Every child brought up in a home where one or both parents smoke has a greater probability of smoking as an adult. Making a change is not only necessary for their own life, but for the lives of those most important to them. I know from personal experience as a former smoker and parent the pain and anguish felt when your own child states, “When I grow up and smoke...”

Children learn by everything they see and hear around them. When adults smoke, children see that behavior is normal, acceptable, and surely it must be healthy. As a parent, we encourage healthy food choices and activities for children every single day. We promote caring for the body from the inside out. But smoking is anything but healthy. Smoking kills.

Grass-root educational programs are teaching people about the harmful effects of smoking and encourage them to quit. Taking the same grass-root educational approach in a home of smokers will arm children with knowledge that will assist in deterring them from ever starting to smoke while the parent who smokes works at succeeding at quitting smoking. In my home, we developed a comprehensive program that incorporates exercise, cessation counseling, and The Safe Cig to kick our habit to the curb.

Within a couple weeks, traditional cigarettes were gone from our lives, alongside the smell and secondhand smoke. Our children commented on how we no longer were “smelly” and our breath was “sweeter.” We have educated our children on how we are working to become smoke-free to make their lives better and healthier. By educating them, we have increased our support network. Not only are they our motivation, they serve as cheerleaders wanting to see our success.

As our children reach the teen years and are out with their friends who may or may not smoke, they will know just how powerful the addiction to nicotine is and how their parents tried and failed, tried and failed, and finally succeeded at quitting smoking with The Safe Cig.

The Safe Cig tastes just like a traditional cigarette. The psychological effect of hearing the “snap, crackle, and pop” like tobacco burns further helps associate the e-cig with a traditional cigarette. The vapor tickles the tongue and back of the throat like every other cigarette I smoked before did. The difference being that I can breathe. I have been able to get out and run two miles every morning for the first time in decades. My energy is through the roof, providing hours of entertainment and play with my children where I would have been lethargic before.

The Safe Cig is a smoking alternative that truly changes the lives of more than just those who smoke. Parents can use The Safe Cig as an educational tool to prevent another generation from facing the devastating health effects that kill.