Join Today & Get 4% Cash Back Then 6, 7...Up to 10% Off Reorders!

April 28, 2008, 1:15 am
Flag as Inappropriate KaraW  

Both my parents are smokers. Have been all my life, and before that. Both have smoked for at least 40 years! My dad wants to quit, but my mom doesn't. I really wish they both would: my grandmother died when I was young and I barely remember her. I don't want the same thing for my kids.

Any tips on encouraging them to quit? Nothing I say to my mother helps. Even my daughter, who is 3, tells her she doesn't want her to smoke. :(

There really isn't much that you can do about it. People who are forced or coaxed into quitting are the ones who most often fail to do so. You have to have a personal resolve for it to work.

I quit after 10 years, and was smoking three packs a day (about 60) on a bad day. I went told turkey because it was my choice, and I was fine.

Friends who were bugged by boyfriends just never kept it up.

There isn't any point in getting them to stop until they have resolved to quit themselves. They have to want to. Now if they have expressed a desire to quite I would give them all the support and encouragement I could.

I agree. They have to want to quit or it will not be successful.

Many smokes only quit when they are ready to. Some say they are but things in life can change that. I did the same, I quit and about 2 weeks later my father passed, I started back up for a week, and then quit again.

Unfortunately, the drugs in a cigarette are designed to re-wire the brain into believing that person can't function without a nicotine fix regularly.

I've tried everything and I know I'm hopelessly addicted. I've given up at least a dozen times and always found some lame excuse to pick it back up again.

it's up to the individual.

I agree that there's not anything you can say that will really help. In fact, the more you subtly push, the more stubborn she's likely to be about it. Even the plea of your child didn't cut it, so it's up to her to decide if/when she's ready.

This is true I did smoke and I just up and quit. I was tired of smelling like an ash tray. My sisters and brother smoke. They have tried several times to quit but something always happens and they start up again. Everyone has realized we just need to let them be and not keep hounding them to quit because they can't.

I'm in the same boat with my little brother and my mom. I think they have to want to quit to do it.I think they shouldn't make excuses but actually try. There's not to much you can do though.I've tried getting reading materials, talking to them about their health, how much money they'd save.When my dad used to smoke I've even went as far as throwing his ciggerettes away and breaking them in half.I've now cut down when my mom can see my daughter.I don't want her exposed to it and I'm hoping that helps.If she smokes I spray her and my brother with lysol, febreeze or anything to help cut some of the smell.I am allergic to smoke badly and it triggers migraines and my mom and brother just don't care.Its more important for them to smoke then to see us.

My mom smoked for some 40 years herself and never quit until the doctor said if you do not you will die and then she quit within two weeks. It is hard to make people do something they do not want to. Good luck!

Good luck. They aren't going to if they don't want to. And death just isn't scary enough. I have been begging my husband for years.

Let me know if you get any great tips.