Set a good example by not using tobacco and give clear, consistent messages about the dangers of tobacco to your teens.
Provide your teens with a tobacco-free environment at home.
Support coordinated school health programs and insist that they include smoking and tobacco-use prevention education.
If your teens already uses tobacco:
- Help them set realistic goals for stopping.
- Give them positive reinforcement and encouragement.
- Help them understand the underlying reasons they’re using tobacco (to deal with stress, to feel accepted, to show their independence, etc.).
- Help them substitute positive alternatives such as physical activity or stress management.
Help your teens critically analyze messages that glamorize tobacco use on television, in movies, and in magazines and other print media.
Join a school health committee and guide policies to prevent tobacco use.
Volunteer to help school staff implement smoking and tobacco-use prevention activities.
Work with the school board to provide assistance programs, rather than punishment, for students who violate smoking and tobacco-use policies.
Share smoking and tobacco-use prevention information with your teens and talk with them about related homework assignments and projects.
Parenting Poll: Have you talked to your teen about smoking?
