# People Who Smoke in the Car with Children in Them **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 25, 2013, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964 "2013-03-25T22:43:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/21 "2013-03-26T00:32:34Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > Should we not also outlaw fat people farts and ethanol plants? > > And I don’t have a kid, you hysterical whackjob. Isn’t it past your bedtime? False simile. :smack:Move along ---
**Author:** ![R3d\_Anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/22 "2013-03-26T00:34:46Z")
And I’ll +1 **April R** on pretty much everything she has said; it’s utterly ludicrous that you can’t be selfless enough as to have some sympathy for your suffering children as well as preserving their health. And yes, it’s deliberate ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/23 "2013-03-26T00:34:59Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#): > > I am utterly startled at the lack of sympathy in this thread. Giving your kid a Happy Meal probably has similar future ramifications as smoking around them does. Some people might argue that indoctrinating your kids in a church is worse than smoking around them. Putting your kid on a school bus probably makes them more sick than smoking might. Yeah smoking around your kid sucks but we all have choices to make. It’s up to the parents to make the decisions not the public. ---
**Author:** ![R3d\_Anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/24 "2013-03-26T00:38:28Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Yeah smoking around your kid sucks but we all have choices to make. It’s up to the parents to make the decisions not the public. Alright, fair enough - it is their choice, but doesn’t make it any less of a selfish or deliberately ignorant act. Yes, we all have our own opinions, and I have expressed mine quite clearly in this thread (I think). ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/25 "2013-03-26T00:41:51Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > She smokes and is pregnant? :eek: I can’t even begin to explain how angry that makes me. :mad: Again, with documented illness caused by smoking around children and while pregnant why isn’t this considered child abuse? And for the poster who said the definition of child abuse changes, well of course it does. We no longer have children working in factories, because that was eventually considered abuse. The definition changed because we became more aware of the damage it did to children. For things not to change would be a sign of willful ignorance, not steadfastness. That is moronic to think the definition shouldn’t change as we become more aware of the consequences. Yes, and she smoked through her first pregnancy as well. My mom fully supported her, and she claims her doctor did as well. She didn’t even bother to try and quit before she got pregnant with this second one. She just doesn’t care/see a problem with it ‘because our parents did it’. Typical excuse. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/26 "2013-03-26T00:42:17Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Giving your kid a Happy Meal probably has similar future ramifications as smoking around them does. Some people might argue that indoctrinating your kids in a church is worse than smoking around them. Putting your kid on a school bus probably makes them more sick than smoking might. > > Yeah smoking around your kid sucks but we all have choices to make. It’s up to the parents to make the decisions not the public. cites would be nice. I provided cited proof that smoking around children is dangerous. Where is the proof that an occasional Happy Meal given to an active child has “similar ramifications” as smoking around them? Say that out loud, it sounds just plain stupid.That is complete BS and utterly dismissive of the seriousness of smoking around children. As for religion, that is comparing apples to oranges (physiological versus physical risks) so that isn’t even relevant to the argument Then you pose a school bus as a dangerous health risk with words like “probably” and “might”? Come on, you can do better than that to justify blowing poison in children’s faces. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/27 "2013-03-26T00:43:56Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > Yes, and she smoked through her first pregnancy as well. My mom fully supported her, and she claims her doctor did as well. She didn’t even bother to try and quit before she got pregnant with this second one. She just doesn’t care/see a problem with it ‘because our parents did it’. Typical excuse. It is really sad to see how an addiction can completely take over a person, and the collateral damage it causes. I am sorry you have to sit back and witness it and really can’t do anything about it ☹ ---
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/28 "2013-03-26T00:46:35Z")
You can’t start mandating that parents have to do the best possible for their kids. Some will buy Happy meals and 2 liter sodas, some will have latchkey kids, some will allow the TV to be the babysitter, some will allow their kids to “safely” learn to shoot guns, etc, etc. There will always be somebody who won’t be happy with the way somebody else’s kids are being treated. Either legislate your way to the nanny state, or don’t. Most people want to make choices, even if they aren’t the way you’d do it. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/29 "2013-03-26T00:52:23Z")
Smoking is not a matter of a nanny state. It is poison, not a gun. Guns can be handled safely, tell me how one can safely smoke in a car around children and I will detract my objection. It isn’t about doing the “best possible,” it is about doing the bare minimum. Go outside to smoke, resist the urge to smoke around children. It’s not hard. It’s not an outrageous expectation of any decent parent or adult, even if they can’t kick the cigarette habit, they can refrain from smoking around children. Can anyone come up with a legitimate simile in this thread? It is getting ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/30 "2013-03-26T00:56:35Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > cites would be nice. I provided cited proof that smoking around children is dangerous. Where is the proof that an occasional Happy Meal given to an active child has “similar ramifications” as smoking around them? Say that out loud, it sounds just plain stupid.That is complete BS and utterly dismissive of the seriousness of smoking around children. > > As for religion, that is comparing apples to oranges (physiological versus physical risks) so that isn’t even relevant to the argument > > Then you pose a school bus as a dangerous health risk with words like “probably” and “might”? Come on, you can do better than that to justify blowing poison in children’s faces. :rolleyes: My dad smoked in front of us for my entire life. He’s still doing it. I don’t have asthma, cancer or emphysema or any breathing or lung issues. I ate the occasional Happy Meal and I am really fucking fat. Like scary fat. So that’s where I’m coming from. You say “our children’s faces” like those other people’s kids belong to you. Aren’t you pregnant? You forgot to mention that in this thread. That kid belongs to you. Don’t let people smoke in front of it. Other people’s kids can and will be subject to poison. I don’t like when people give their kids juice and granola bars thinking they are healthy. I don’t like that parents are allowed to be drunk in front of their kids. But they do and they can. I got over it. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/31 "2013-03-26T01:00:22Z")
It’s a Pit thread I don’t have to get over it. I don’t smoke, don’t let my children around smoke when I can avoid it, but I can still find it repugnant when others do smoke around children. And I have proof to back up my distaste for the habit, you have a personal anecdote. So I think I am a bit more justified in my opinion, thanks for the advice anyway. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/32 "2013-03-26T01:02:04Z")
I think the frustration with smokers who smoke around their kids is that there is scientific evidence that it is harmful to their children’s health, but when confronted with that, they say things like ‘my parents smoked around me and I don’t have blah, blah, blah.’ Doesn’t really compute. ---
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/33 "2013-03-26T01:02:25Z")
Again, there will always be somebody who doesn’t think you are raising your kids right. The uptight parents will wonder why the hippie parents kids hair is blue. You as a parent, either can pay attention what everybody else is saying or simply say, fuck it these are my kids and I will raise them as I see fit. Opinions and assholes, everybody’s got 'em. There is no one right way. Everybody at all times, are making a judgement call. Some parents are going weigh certain things as more valuable then others. You can’t control someone else’s life. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/34 "2013-03-26T01:04:35Z")
Sorry, but in this case it is wrong to smoke around children. This isn’t up for interpretation. It never will be. ---
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/35 "2013-03-26T01:16:41Z")
I have a couple friends who, after they had their kid, would be in a public place and walk away about less than ten feet away from their child to smoke. They wanted to stay in the conversation, but didn’t want to smoke immediately next to their child. Half assed hypocrites. Either do, or don’t do. Don’t do this symbolic shit. April, question. My parents smoked around me and even while I was in utero. Looking back on it, are they guilty of child abuse? Not currently, but under previous social standards. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/36 "2013-03-26T01:27:19Z")
I don’t want to condemn individual parents, because I am sure my parenting isn’t ideal, but the act of smoking around children has the potential of being criminalized because of the proven risk it puts them in, and if it was up to a vote I would vote in favor of making it criminal. So I can’t say they were guilty of something that isn’t illegal yet. But it was a pretty dumb thing for them to do. However, I don’t know how aware they were of the dangers of second hand smoke, so they may just have been ignorant of the consequences. Now if they knew full well the risk they were placing you in, how can that not be seen as abuse? [Willfully placing your child in harms way is the definition of abuse.](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/child+abuse) ---
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/37 "2013-03-26T01:35:02Z")
I was born in 1970. My mother was a registered nurse. She was fully aware or at least she should have known that it wasn’t a great idea, but went ahead anyway. There are lots of things I can complain about my parents and their nurturing skills, their smoking habits really don’t make the top 20. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Otto_Sweet_Heart)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/38 "2013-03-26T01:40:52Z")
My older sister who I have not had anything to do with in over ten years now is a smoker and there is no doubt in my mind that she smokes no matter who is in her presence anywhere including her daughter and son who will be 15 and 12 this year in June and next month. God bless you and my niece and nephew always!!! Holly P.S. Y’all who hate me here would think that I am angel if you knew everything that there is to know about my sister. That girl is nothing but **sheer** evil. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/39 "2013-03-26T01:47:44Z")
April R, I’d rather see children exposed to second hand smoke than see them raised Mormon. Do you think it should be against the law for parents to allow their children to become fat? Being overweight is going to do far more long term damage to a child than being exposed to second hand smoke is. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/40 "2013-03-26T01:54:13Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > April R, I’d rather see children exposed to second hand smoke than see them raised Mormon. Explain. Because if that was just a personal dig at me, you are an idiot. :rolleyes: Us evil Mormons with the no drinking, smoking, and healthy eating. What a horrible way to raise a child. :le sigh: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964.md?page=3)