How do parents know if their child smokes?

If you have a teenage child, then sooner or later you will have to face a choice: put on rose-colored glasses (hide your head in the sand and not be interested in his real life) or try to be aware of what is happening to him.

The fact that your child can reach for a cigarette and https://argoprep.com/blog/inquiry-based-learning/ is practically an axiom. The question is whether nicotine will become a means for him to satisfy his goals, or whether the first cigarette will be the last.

How to understand that the child smokes:
1. Ask.

Just formulate the question correctly, without manipulation, pressure and attempts to catch.

2. Watch.

A smoker often brushes his teeth, regularly launders clothes, buys chewing gum. read https://argoprep.com/blog/restorative-justice-in-schools/ and mouth sprays.

3. Take a look at your surroundings.

If someone smokes in the company of a child, then at least yours was offered cigarettes.

4. Count your expenses.

Estimate how much money you give to a teenager and where he spends it. If he constantly asks for more, it means that a source of additional expenses has appeared, and it is quite possible that these are cigarettes.

5. Stay close.

Horizontal view of a teenagers smoking marijuana joint

During the day or several days (on weekends, for example), do not let your child and https://argoprep.com/blog/culturally-responsive-teaching-what-you-should-know/ out of your sight. It should be alert if he is nervous, strives to go somewhere, asks for a store or other matters that he had previously agreed to reluctantly.

6. Check clothing pockets before washing.

They may not contain cigarettes, but tobacco crumbs, for example.

7. Watch your health.

Dry cough, sputum production, persistent runny nose are signs of an ingrained addiction to cigarettes.

Another option on how to find out if a child smokes is a laboratory one. If you do not want to admit that you are planning to do a nicotine test, come up with another reason for taking urine or blood.