Smokers banned from fostering - POLL ADDED

[Krystal]

im very anti smoking so i agree with it. It also p*sses me off to think that people on benefits smoke as i feel tax payers are funding their filthy habit.

Slightly off topic but i agree! (and thats from a filthy ex-smoker!) I still think the government should ban it but that will never happen as they gain far too much money from the tax.. then again, maybe they lose that from the amount the NHS have to pay out for smoking related illnesses.. ive gone right off topic.. sorry!

I do personally believe that it should be illegal to smoke around your children in the house though. I know it could never been enforced but in my opinion its just damn right wrong!

Claire x

Exactly... the government get taxes from cigs... so the government gives taxes to peopleon benefits and then the people on benefits give the tax back to the government through buying more cigs.. like a big happy circle.

to go back to Hennely's point. Regardless of what you think of smokers and their filthy habits I don't think it's up to the government to tell people how to spend their money. And just cos someone is on benefits doesn't mean they have any less right to CHOOSE to smoke than anyone else either.

 

[zebrastripes]

Gosh Hennaly, I hope to goodness that you are completely vice-free, because saying that people who smoke are abusing their children is completely out of order.

I'm anti-smoking, and I hate seeing people puffing away over their kids, but saying it is abuse is way too far. Yes,passive smoking does cause health problems, but so does feeding your kids crap so they become obese, not letting them get enough excersise.... see what I'm getting at? If you really wanted to be pettifogging, you could get into the nitty gritty details of car exhaust fumes, exposure to too much TV at a young age, the chemicals on materials and in food, kitchen products which could contribute to respiratory problems....

 

[hennaly]

I will say it again.........I AM TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE WHO SMOKE AROUND CHILDREN NOT THE ONES WHO HAVE CHILDREN AND SMOKE OUTSIDE AWAY FROM THEM.
Besides i am entitled to an opinion am i not or is it that i can have one so long as i dont express it on here.

 

[mummykay]

hmmmm sneaky fag outside while kids are asleep is fine, chainsmokin in front of them not so gd!!

tis silly tho, if they start puttin all these regulations on fostering then theres jus gonna be too many poor kids in carehomes at this rate cos no ones gonna be 'good enough'

 

[beanie]

I agree with Minxy. I lost both my parents to cancer (one smoked,one didn't). If people want to risk putting their child through that it is up to them but its no reason for a child in care to be deprived of a bit of stability. ,

 

[zebrastripes]

I will say it again.........I AM TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE WHO SMOKE AROUND CHILDREN NOT THE ONES WHO HAVE CHILDREN AND SMOKE OUTSIDE AWAY FROM THEM.
Besides i am entitled to an opinion am i not or is it that i can have one so long as i dont express it on here.

Ah yes I just went back and read your last post.

I still think it's a bit silly to say that people who smoke around children are abusing them. As abhorrent as I find the practice, that would mean my grandmother "abused" all four of her children, as did my other grandmother, a good few aunts and uncles, plus extended family.

Where abouts did I,or anyone else say you could neither hold nor express an opinion? I was simply challenging that opinion. Or is it that it is OK for you to hold an opinion as long as it is not made a topic of debate? That's a bit pointless. It's not an opinion then,it's a dogma.

 

[Melly+2]

Unfortunatly whether or not people smoke inside or out we are surrounded by it as its in our air and always will be, as will be polution from driving cars ect, we are inhaling toxic fumes every day but you dont see people stopping driving cars, its a no win situation.

I was a smoker before i got pg and if im honest ill prob smoke again in my life time, but i dont do itin the house or around Hope. My mum smoked in the house around all 4 of her kids as we grew up and in no way to i concider my mother to have abused me, i dont agree it was the right thing fior her to do obvcourse by any means but unfortunatly that as a parent was her choice, i think smoking around kids is shocking but what can you do

 

[krissie23]

To be honest, I have never heard anythng so silly in my life! I agree that smoking around children is horrible, passive smoking is dangerous & not fair on a child, but to ban smokers from becoming foster parents really does take the biscuit!

I agree with everything Minxy said. I don't think it's fair on people that want to become/are foster parents, to be told that they cannot foster a child because they smoke. As a lot of other people have said, there are so many children out there who need loving homes, stability, nurturing, etc., & the amount of which they actually need probably can't be provided so well from a care home. People who foster do it out of love and want to care for a child... and as someone else said, what next? Home inspections that mean if they are found to have pizzas and burgers in their freezer, they will be banned from fostering?!

I definetly think if you ARE a smoker and have children, you should NOT smoke in the same room as them under any circumstances, I think anyone that does do that is pretty disgusting. But as others have said, the odd fag out in the garden of an evening is not going to hurt anyone is it? I started smoking again when Amber was about 5 months old, but would never, ever have subjected her to my second hand smoke, I would have the odd couple outside in the evening once she was settled.. and if anyone else did, they would have had the fag taken out of their hand before they could even light it!

 

[nori]

I will say it again.........I AM TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE WHO SMOKE AROUND CHILDREN NOT THE ONES WHO HAVE CHILDREN AND SMOKE OUTSIDE AWAY FROM THEM.
Besides i am entitled to an opinion am i not or is it that i can have one so long as i dont express it on here.

Ah yes I just went back and read your last post.

I still think it's a bit silly to say that people who smoke around children are abusing them. As abhorrent as I find the practice, that would mean my grandmother "abused" all four of her children, as did my other grandmother, a good few aunts and uncles, plus extended family.

Where abouts did I,or anyone else say you could neither hold nor express an opinion? I was simply challenging that opinion. Or is it that it is OK for you to hold an opinion as long as it is not made a topic of debate? That's a bit pointless. It's not an opinion then,it's a dogma.

Why does everything have to be about a debate on here though? Why cant someone just have an opinion, air that opinion and move on. We all have different views which i think is great as the world would be a boring place to be if we all agreed. Some people are very passionate on certain subjects (im the same when it comes to smoking around children). YOu shouldnt constantly have to justify your views (IN MY OPINION!)

Claire x

 

[SarahH]

I will say it again.........I AM TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE WHO SMOKE AROUND CHILDREN NOT THE ONES WHO HAVE CHILDREN AND SMOKE OUTSIDE AWAY FROM THEM.
Besides i am entitled to an opinion am i not or is it that i can have one so long as i dont express it on here.

Ah yes I just went back and read your last post.

I still think it's a bit silly to say that people who smoke around children are abusing them. As abhorrent as I find the practice, that would mean my grandmother "abused" all four of her children, as did my other grandmother, a good few aunts and uncles, plus extended family.

Where abouts did I,or anyone else say you could neither hold nor express an opinion? I was simply challenging that opinion. Or is it that it is OK for you to hold an opinion as long as it is not made a topic of debate? That's a bit pointless. It's not an opinion then,it's a dogma.

Why does everything have to be about a debate on here though? Why cant someone just have an opinion, air that opinion and move on. We all have different views which i think is great as the world would be a boring place to be if we all agreed. Some people are very passionate on certain subjects (im the same when it comes to smoking around children). YOu shouldnt constantly have to justify your views (IN MY OPINION!)

Claire x

But debates are all about people with other opinions discussing the pros and cons of the given subject, so whenever a topic like this comes up there are always going to be debates

 

[Xena]

I notice that most of you are disagreeing with this new law. To be honest though, I don't understand why you all think it's so bad.

We all know smoking is bad for you, so it's not like people are being asked to give up something wonderful in order to become foster parents. Rather, if they want to foster, they need to stop smoking, and surely that can only be a good thing for their OWN health, as well as that of the child.

It's not impossible to stop smoking - why would they want to smoke anyway? It's socially frowned upon, it stinks, it's hazardous to health, it makes your teeth and fingers yellow....
why would anybody object to this law? I can't quite fathom it out.

 

[hennaly]

I notice that most of you are disagreeing with this new law. To be honest though, I don't understand why you all think it's so bad.

We all know smoking is bad for you, so it's not like people are being asked to give up something wonderful in order to become foster parents. Rather, if they want to foster, they need to stop smoking, and surely that can only be a good thing for their OWN health, as well as that of the child.

It's not impossible to stop smoking - why would they want to smoke anyway? It's socially frowned upon, it stinks, it's hazardous to health, it makes your teeth and fingers yellow....
why would anybody object to this law? I can't quite fathom it out.

 

[SarahH]

meh...

 

[Minxy]

We all know smoking is bad for you, so it's not like people are being asked to give up something wonderful in order to become foster parents. Rather, if they want to foster, they need to stop smoking, and surely that can only be a good thing for their OWN health, as well as that of the child.

But it's nanny-state going a bit mad. People do lots of things that are bad for them but would be easy to give up. Should overweight people be banned from caring for children because they don't want to give up the takeaways that are 'bad for them'? Where does it stop?

If people have to show themselves to be some kind of Stepford-esque example of human perfection before they can care for children I fear no child in care will ever get to experience a loving home!

 

[beanie]

The biggest killer in this country is obesity so I would imagine then that if they are to ban smokers they will ban overweight people too. Which would mean I would be out as I am just overweight on the bmi scale.

 

[LilysMummy]

Because its an addiction and contrary to all your points I ENJOY my late night fag. yes its bad blah blah but thats my guilty pleasure. I dont force it on anyone especially my beautiful daughter.

Think we are drifting from the OP really

 

[Xena]

We all know smoking is bad for you, so it's not like people are being asked to give up something wonderful in order to become foster parents. Rather, if they want to foster, they need to stop smoking, and surely that can only be a good thing for their OWN health, as well as that of the child.

But it's nanny-state going a bit mad. People do lots of things that are bad for them but would be easy to give up. Should overweight people be banned from caring for children because they don't want to give up the takeaways that are 'bad for them'? Where does it stop?

If people have to show themselves to be some kind of Stepford-esque example of human perfection before they can care for children I fear no child in care will ever get to experience a loving home!

Well overweight people are not necessarily making children eat the same thing. My husband is very overweight and loves his takeaways (I know it's bad I nag him often), but if he has a curry or whatever I'll cook the kids some fish and mash and veg for example.
His eating habits don't effect them.

Smoking does effect the kids though, even if the parents smoke outside. It sticks to clothes and rubs off on the kids.

 

[krissie23]

But it's nanny-state going a bit mad. People do lots of things that are bad for them but would be easy to give up. Should overweight people be banned from caring for children because they don't want to give up the takeaways that are 'bad for them'? Where does it stop?

If people have to show themselves to be some kind of Stepford-esque example of human perfection before they can care for children I fear no child in care will ever get to experience a loving home!

Totally agree!

 

[Minxy]

The biggest killer in this country is obesity so I would imagine then that if they are to ban smokers they will ban overweight people too. Which would mean I would be out as I am just overweight on the bmi scale.

It's not out of the realms of possibilty. Now smoking is more under control weight is the next thing the state will demonize.

I'd be out too, at a hefty 25.4 BMI

 

[beanie]

We all know smoking is bad for you, so it's not like people are being asked to give up something wonderful in order to become foster parents. Rather, if they want to foster, they need to stop smoking, and surely that can only be a good thing for their OWN health, as well as that of the child.

But it's nanny-state going a bit mad. People do lots of things that are bad for them but would be easy to give up. Should overweight people be banned from caring for children because they don't want to give up the takeaways that are 'bad for them'? Where does it stop?

If people have to show themselves to be some kind of Stepford-esque example of human perfection before they can care for children I fear no child in care will ever get to experience a loving home!

Well overweight people are not necessarily making children eat the same thing. My husband is very overweight and loves his takeaways (I know it's bad I nag him often), but if he has a curry or whatever I'll cook the kids some fish and mash and veg for example.
His eating habits don't effect them.

Smoking does effect the kids though, even if the parents smoke outside. It sticks to clothes and rubs off on the kids.

I think the word is can. Smoking can effect children. Those that have a fag at night when their children are in bed won't effect their child. Whilst the smell may rub off, it would be gone by morning. However people smoking in front of their children do run the risk of their children copying them as we are their biggest role models. Being overweight and eating crap can also effect children, you may give them a healthy meal but they will see what daddy is eating and doing. Seren will have her fruit bar and eat it happily but if she sees that I am eating chocolate she soon pulls a face and the cereal bar isn't that attractive anymore. Research has shown that children get their attitude to food from others around them.