I saw a granny type doing this yesterday with two little girls in the back . It was pretty cold outside, and the windows were rolled up all the way and she was puffing away. My mother smoked like a chimney, but at least she rolled the windows down, and this was in the 60’s.
Given what we know these days about second hand smoke, I’m of the opinion this is tantamount to child abuse.
I’m with you there.
Unless one of the kids has a respiratory disease, such as asthma or cystic fibrosis, then I’d say it doesn’t hit the abuse level. It’s at least as irresponsible as feeding kids nothing but high-calorie fast food and sweetened sodas for beverages, etc. IMHO.
Now if the kid does have respiratory disease, then yes, it’s abuse.
Qadgop You are the expert of course. (no sarcasm) but IMO it’s offensive to the children. I think it’s abuse in that sense, maybe not in the physical harm sense but still assholeish behaviour.
Yes, it’s abuse, and so is a steady diet of junk food and junk entertainment and junk values (don’t get me started). But I’d hardly put it in the same category as shaking a baby.
I hope the woman at least had the vents open.
“Abuse” is probably a bit far. “Almost unforgiveably stupid” is nearer the mark.
If one of the kids is carsick-prone, the problem will solve itself.
I speak from my own childhood experiences.
I’m strongly antismoking, but labeling this as child abuse is just plain nonsense. It’s not like the child is being actively harmed; it’s just increasing risk. And that risk goes back down if the child returns to a smoke-free environment.
You can’t argue on one hand that long-term smokers should quit because it will save their life, and argue on the other hand that any exposure to smoke is so dangerous that it puts children at risk. If the children don’t smoke, their chances for lung cancer will be less, and, indeed, their lungs will clear up just like a long-term smoker’s lungs will – and probably much faster, since there’s less exposure.
Admittedly, it’s probably not the best thing for the kids, but it’s hardly abuse.
My definition of ‘abuse’ in this case is ‘causing offence’ such as abusing someone by swearing at them. So it is abuse in that sense.
Sitting in a car with someone who smokes and is too stupid to roll down the windows is annoying, not dangerous. It takes decades for a smoker to do long-term damage; a person can quit before they are 40 and be just as (un)healthy as the rest of the population. To say that the kids were being abused is hyperbole.
No, I don’t think it’s child abuse. I don’t think it’s the greatest idea in the world, but would you have granny arrested for that? No, probably not. Do you think the children are going to need therapy when they grow up because their grandma smoked with the windows rolled up? Doubtful.
I’d be pissed if I was the parent of those children, but I wouldn’t say they could never ride with their grandma again. Maybe our definitions of “abuse” are really, really different, but this is definitely not on the same level as physical abuse (hitting) or mental abuse, or neglect. Unless grandma’s going to lock them up in a car with her and chain smoke for the next 25 years, I’m sure the kids will get over it.
Anyway, we all know how grandmothers are. “Well, I did it with your mother and she turned out just fine.”
I think most of us who are responsible parents/adults would, in our minds, consider this “abusive”; same as when I see people allowing small children to skitter around unbuckled in a car.
Reportable abuse in the terms of having action taken against granny? No, I don’t think it would likely ever rise to that definition.
however the unbuckled kids all over the car :mad: is against the law so if you see that you can report the tag number and complaint to the state patrol – in GA the number is * GSP on your cell
A) Those two things are so different that I can’t even form a decent response. Just, wow.
B) As a responsible parent slash adult, I must ask that you please stop abusing me (per Lobsang’s definition).
C) So far the tally in this thread is 5 to 4 in favor of “No, this isn’t ‘abuse’.” so we’ll see how your “most” pans out.
D) I don’t really think anyone is condoning this behavior; I’m certainly not. It’s just not abuse, actionable or otherwise.
(hijak):
Is it worse for a pregnant mother to smoke with her mouth or with her vagina to an unbon fetus?
Qadgop?
I’m a consummate smoker, but I would never even consider doing this. I don’t smoke in my car when I’m on my own unless the windows are wide open, and I hang my cigarette hand out of the window the whole time, no matter what the temperature outside. Hell, I feel guilty enough exposing my cat to cigarette smoke in the house.
Not ‘abuse’ as such, but negligence of the highest order, IMO.
Leaving a child unbuckled just one time in a car allows for the possibility that that child may be killed due to your negligence. (It only takes one bad accident.) Unlesss the child has asthma or something similar, the chance of bringing about death from one cigarette with the windows rolled up is almost non-existent. (It would take many, many cigarettes over a period of years.)
It is, however, grindingly thoughtless and selfish – a quality often associated with, but not limited to those granny types.
Really bad idea, yeah. Abuse, no. The chances it’ll do any serious physical damage to the kids are very low indeed, and the chances it’ll do any serious mental damage are pretty much nonexistent.
Seriously, nobody would have thought of calling this abuse when I was growing up, and I’m not even thirty. Grandma is probably doing something nobody would have thought twice about when she was bringing up her own kids, and I doubt she has the slightest intent to cause harm.
So we’re pretty set on the abuse=physical harm definition then?
Stupid? Yes.
Abuse? No.