Positive ways to keep kids tobacco free

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control provides the following ways parents and other adults can help keep young people tobacco free:

Know the facts about youth and tobacco use.

Adults in kids' lives should know that:

• Signs of youth tobacco use might include coughing, more asthma attacks and respiratory problems.
• Tobacco use might be a sign of other substance abuse, such as use of alcohol and other drugs.
• Chewing tobacco, cigars, low-tar and additive-free cigarettes are not safe alternatives to smoking.
• Tobacco use causes heart disease, cancers and strokes and is the most preventable cause of death in the United States.

Visit the many Web sites linked from MSU Extension and Tobacco Use Prevention - they contain a variety of research, fact sheets, learning materials and other tobacco use prevention tools to help you learn and use the facts to keep young people tobacco free.

Take a stand about tobacco use early and often with the youth in your life:

• Know that young people are most influenced by their parents and other significant adults, such as 4-H volunteer leaders, in their lives. Use your great influence to prevent substance abuse.
• Talk to young people about tobacco risks.
• If you use tobacco, remember to respect the lives of others, especially the youth in your life, and consider the health hazards of secondhand smoke.
• Start talking to kids about tobacco use at age 5 or 6 and continue talking to them through their high school years. Many youth start using tobacco at age 11 and are addicted by age 14.
• If you know that a young person's peer group has smokers, help that young person develop ways to refuse tobacco.
• Talk to kids about the glamorization of tobacco use in the media and advertising.

Make a difference in your community:

• Vote with your bucks. Spend your money with businesses that don't sell tobacco to kids, and visit local businesses that are tobacco free.
• Make sure the events and activities in your community that involve youth are tobacco free.
• Contact your local cancer, heart or lung association and your local health department to see how you can get involved in helping to keep kids tobacco free. This effort might provide a variety of community service projects for your 4-H club and groups.

Source: Office on Smoking and Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Contact Information

For more information on how to get involved as a youth or volunteer, contact your county MSU Extension office or:

Janet R. Olsen, Program Leader
Michigan 4-H Youth Development
160 Agriculture Hall
Michigan State University
E. Lansing, MI 48824-1039

Email: olsenj@msu.edu
Phone: 517-432-7575

B'Onko Sadler, Associate Program Leader
Michigan 4-H Youth Development,
160 Agriculture Hall
Michigan State University
E. Lansing, MI 48824-1039

E-mail: sadlerbo@msu.edu
Phone: 517-432-7618

Copyright © 1999 - 2009 Michigan State University
Last Updated: October 31, 2009
Last Reviewed: January 14, 2002