Senior Campus allowing students to smoke

[Pretty Butterfly]

Smokers do take their children to the park on occasion. Should we ban them from doing so?

I wish!!!!

I hate nothing more than going out, for FRESH air with my kids, and having some idiot come over near me (pregnant) or my little kids, fag hanging out, blowing that crap over us... It is one the most RUDEST things there is I think.

If YOU wish to smoke, keep it to YOURSELF, and stop inflicting on little kids and unborn babies, when we go out of our way to avoid it.. its not like I went to the "smoking" area of a bloody pub or something!!!

Seriously, there is enough crap in the air as it is without having extra chemicals blown all over us because YOU cant stay away from others when YOUR having a smoke.....


Ok, rant over!!! .. but really, I hate it!!!

[Jellybean29]

It just seems so backwards... When the community is finally getting back some space with smoke free pubs and clubs and hospital grounds... This school is going the other way and creating a smoking space in a place that is usually smoke free.
Just seems ludacris! So much money spent on education against smoking and quit programs and then a school goes ahead and makes it easier, not harder!
Smoking is anti-social behavior with proven health and financial costs to the individual and the community. It should be shamed upon and those that do it forced to do it far away from public places. Its not cool, its a dirty, disgusting and expensive habit.
I have friends who quit after the clubs and pubs ban cos they were sick of having to go outside in the gutter and leave their mates, just to have a smoke. Plus the expense with the high taxes!
I think making smoking areas inconvenient does encourage quitting as I have seen it work for friends.
And if smoking addiction is so bad it affects your school work, then you need help to quit, cos not a lot of work places in the real world are going to put up with an employer that addicted either!

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[emc2]

All I've noticed in Brisbane really, is that now there are people lighting up at pedestrian crossings, concentrated rows of people 4m from shopping centre entrances, building entrances and train stations, or at the taxi rank, it is ludicrous, as is the state of the English language on the internet!! ;-)

[diannescruffy]

If your kids were so good in the first place, then they wouldn't be smoking no matter what the rules were or weren't.

A 17 year old will make their own decisions, they are not children, and tbh, I am amazed that you give them so little credit to make intelligent decisions sometimes - surely if you have raised them the way you hope you have, then they will stand up for themselves and their own rights and not smoke if they didn't want to. If you have raised weak minded sheep, I suppose you should be worried.

The fact is, that 17 and 18 year olds will make choices for themselves, good or bad, and having a particular area available at a school in which to have the freedom to live that decision is not going to magically make teens begin smoking just because they are have that space. If the inclination was/is there, they will do it behind the toilets or where ever anyway.
The premise that having the space designated will facilitate more to make that choice is as ridiculous as the argument that providing condoms in schools will facilitate more to choose to have sex.

DS15 is definately no weak minded sheep, he is not scared to say "no" but he did surcumb to smoking. When I asked him about it he told me for quite a while initially he didn't smoke around all his smoker friends but he wasn't the "cool" one anymore so decided to join in. What we are talking about has absolutely nothing to do with how you raise your child. I tend to think I have raised DS so far quite well. I have a meeting to speak to someone at the school tomorrow and YES they do smoke on the tennis court, the school is at the end of my street. I deliberately walked past yesterday to make sure.

Regards,
Dianne

[toomanyshoes]

Another thing, where do you draw the line? So its ok for 17/16yo's...what about 15yo's? If smoking is so ok for children why not roll them out at primary schools?

Are you going to put a smoke shop at the highschool so the kids don't have to leave the grounds if they run out?

[C~Q]

. It should be shamed upon and those that do it forced to do it far away from public places. Its not cool, its a dirty, disgusting and expensive habit.

Wow, i'm a non smoker for the record but i'm pretty sure "shaming" someone isn't going to achieve anything

ETA I'm pretty sure Onyx isn't saying smoking parents should be able to smoke IN the playground...

[Pretty Butterfly]

Then I'm not sure what she means???

[Jellybean29]

Wow, i'm a non smoker for the record but i'm pretty sure "shaming" someone isn't going to achieve anything

Well its achieved 4 of my friends to quit, so I beg to differ

[berrme]

The majority of his Yr10 mates smoke so will be in the "designated" smoking area, which is the tennis court.

What if someone wants to play tennis?

I don't think this is OK. Sure, there are plenty of kids that smoke before/ after/ while at school. It being against the rules doesn't stop them. But I don't think that we should be condoning smoking in the way that having a designated smoking area is.
In my opinion it will mean that those students who do manage to refrain during the day simply because they are good kids (which is most of the smokers because smoking doesn't actually mean they are bad kids) and do follow school rules will be more likely to have those extra cigarettes during the day. As much as the idea of second hand smoke is being disregarded by some in this thread, it will mean more smelly students in classrooms with non-smoking students and teachers.
I think injecting rooms are a crazy idea. I understand that these students need support to keep them from throwing their lives away, but do you really think they are in any state to learn and be in a classroom with other students after their lunchtime hit? They need to be getting help, not just given somewhere to safely inject.

I understand the notion that providing designated areas for smoking/ drug use is for the safety of the users, but we are not talking about adults here. We need to be doing more to help teens with these addictions, rather than just enable them.

[C~Q]

Then I'm not sure what she means???

Well I assumed she was talking about third hand smoke...as in saying parents that smoke should still be able to take their kids to the park??

BBB - thats great that your friends quit, and to be honest I dont believe that people can be made to feel ashamed of anything they aren't already slightly ashamed of...but shaming and judging...just not my style I guess

ETA - I never responded to the OP...it's a tough one I think...harder because over here you stay in school till you're older.

In the UK when I went to college we had a designated smoking room (inside ugh) BUT the minimum age there was 16 which is the legal age to smoke in UK. So although I don't see a problem for 16+ I don't think it's great to do it in schools...I think Glamourcides idea of a smoking pass on the other hand is a fantasic idea

[diannescruffy]

Another thing, where do you draw the line? So its ok for 17/16yo's...what about 15yo's? If smoking is so ok for children why not roll them out at primary schools?

Are you going to put a smoke shop at the highschool so the kids don't have to leave the grounds if they run out?

DS is 15 and so are the majority of Yr10's.

Regards,
Dianne

[Jellybean29]

BBB - thats great that your friends quit, and to be honest I dont believe that people can be made to feel ashamed of anything they aren't already slightly ashamed of...but shaming and judging...just not my style I guess

If it was just a personal addiction that didnt affect others, then whatever - i wouldnt feel the need to judge... but when it affects others around you who don't want the smell or the smoke ... let alone all the taxes that get spent on smoking related illnesses ... I feel the need to take a stand !
Right now I am trying to relax on the balcony of my holiday unit, but someone has lit up nearby ... gross

[Phteven]

If it was just a personal addiction that didnt affect others, then whatever - i wouldnt feel the need to judge...

What addiction is there that doesn't affect others?
I never heard of someone getting into a car after smoking and killing a whole family or bashing their wife to death under the influence of cigarettes.

[C~Q]

I think it's rare now to be affected by second hand smoke isn't it? I can't remember the last time I was...and as for taxes spent on illnesses, as someone that works in the fitness industry i'd be far more worried about obesity and general bad health related illnesses. But that's another thread and i'm hiijacking and being difficult and argumentative so I think it's time for a glass of wine

[Pretty Butterfly]

Well unless its a designated area with its own air supply people will be exposed to 2nd hand smoke.

Why don't we just all go light up in the local play grounds while kids play?

This is what Onyx responded to.. so I took it mean that smokers should be able to smoke at the park, near our kids.....

[toomanyshoes]

I think it's rare now to be affected by second hand smoke isn't it? I can't remember the last time I was...and as for taxes spent on illnesses, as someone that works in the fitness industry i'd be far more worried about obesity and general bad health related illnesses. But that's another thread and i'm hiijacking and being difficult and argumentative so I think it's time for a glass of wine

I walk through plumes of 2nd hand smoke nearly every time I go out in public.

So because all addictions effect people we should give in and enable it? Sorry I don't buy that.

[Pretty Butterfly]

What addiction is there that doesn't affect others?
I never heard of someone getting into a car after smoking and killing a whole family or bashing their wife to death under the influence of cigarettes.

To an extent, I agree...

but, if I were to have a alcoholic drink, would you mind me pouring some down your childs throat?
Or sticking a needle in their arm?

Because smoking DIRECTLY affects other people, not in a round about way.. straight up, down their throat, into their lungs.

Yes, its self inflicted, just like other things, but it also directly affects every single person around them.....

[LimeSlice]

DS15 is definately no weak minded sheep, he is not scared to say "no" but he did surcumb to smoking. When I asked him about it he told me for quite a while initially he didn't smoke around all his smoker friends but he wasn't the "cool" one anymore so decided to join in. What we are talking about has absolutely nothing to do with how you raise your child. I tend to think I have raised DS so far quite well. I have a meeting to speak to someone at the school tomorrow and YES they do smoke on the tennis court, the school is at the end of my street. I deliberately walked past yesterday to make sure.

Regards,
Dianne

I didnt question whether or not the students smoke there, I have no doubt they do and 5 other places all over campus, what I DO question is the notion that this is a SCHOOL SANCTIONED AND OFFICIALLY DESIGNATED smoking area for students.