National No Smoking Day, a UK wide campaign encouraging smokers to give up for good, occurs on the second Wednesday of March every year.
The No Smoking Day team estimate that :
· In 2009, 900,000 people gave up smoking on No Smoking Day.
The Key Aims of No Smoking Day
· To encourage and assist smokers who want to quit.
· To make as many people as possible aware of the campaign.
· To involve as many individuals and organisations as possible in activities relating to smoking cessation and education.
· To help achieve national and local health targets.
· To inform those that would like to quit where support and advice is available
The Core Messages:
· No Smoking Day is a good opportunity to quit.
· There are health and other benefits to stopping smoking.
· Smokers can get help when they want to quit.
Useful links:
No Smoking Day Contact: www.nosmokingday.org.uk, for information on smoking cessation contact the Hampshire Quit4Lifestop smoking serviceor telephone them on: 0845 602 4663
The nationalNHS free smoking helpline is at: http://smokefree.nhs.uk/or telephone 0800 022 4 322. For th
For information on the wider smoking issues see the Smokefree Hampshire and Isle of Wight website or the ASH websit at: www.ash.org.uk
Young Smokers
At school, children are taught about the effects of smoking, and you can carry on with this at home. When a soap character is smoking or has lung cancer, or if stories such as banning smoking in public places are in the news, take the opportunity to talk about it with your kids.
Talk about issues that are relevant to the child's age; for example, a teenager might be persuaded not to smoke by knowing that kissing a smoker tastes unpleasant, or that smoking makes you smell or cough unattractively.
It is now illegal to sell tobacco to anyone under the age of 18.This includes the purchase of cigars, loose rolling tobacco, rolling papers and cigarettes from vending machines. Make sure your child knows that not only will smoking seriously damage their health, it is also illegal for them to purchase tobacco, and could get them into trouble.
If you find out that your child has been smoking, try to find out why. Many children say peer pressure from friends or classmates is the main reason they start smoking, so ask about friendships and whether your child has been bullied, or if they're just trying to fit in with the in-crowd.
Teenagers often like to do things that are seen as against the rules or dangerous, so explain to them that keeping up with schoolmates isn't worth risking their health. Help them to access doctors or free facilities such as Quit4Life or the NHS Smoking Helpline , and see if your child's school has any plans to deal with smoking. Children aged 12 to 17 can now be prescribed nicotine gum and patches to help deal with any cravings. Speak to your GP to find out more.
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