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I had an odd conversation with Abigail the other day which made me wonder what are schools teaching my child. Abigail, who is now 8, and I were driving in the car and she said the oddest thing to me. This is how our conversation went…
A. “Mommy, I hate that Daddy smokes”
Me. “I know I do too but he only smokes once in a while and never around us.”
At this point I figured that the conversation would end but with Abigail the conversation never seems to end.
A. “Well why do people smoke?”
Me. “I think that people start because they think that they look cool and then it is hard to stop.”
A. “Well Daddy must be stupid then.”
Me. “No Abigail a lot of people used to smoke. They did not know a long time ago that it was bad for you. Even your grandma smoked right up until mommy was in college. It was just something that was not thought of as a bad thing for your health like it is today.”
A. “Oh wow mommy, did grandma do drugs the whole time you were growing up?”
OK this is where I am questioning what my kids are learning in school. Since when is smoking considered being a drug addiction? From this point I quickly tried to explain that people who are called drug addicts do drugs that are not legal. Cigarettes and alcohol are legal but you have to be an adult to buy them. So by the end of this conversation I was wondering if she raised her hand in the middle of class and told them all that her dad is a drug addict? You never know with that one. I am walking on eggshells just waiting for the school to call about my drug addict husband.
Perhaps this makes it clear that 3rd graders are confusing the messages that they are getting. Perhaps their young minds are just not ready to tell a difference between a smoker, a drug addict and an alcoholic. My concern comes in that no one is clearing all of this up for them! They walk around thinking that their father is a druggie because he smokes a cigarette every few days. Oh and to top it off Emma, my 5 year old, hates Obama because he smokes. She has learned in school that this means we should not respect our president. Oh the things that they are learning are astonishing to me. I would settle for some good old reading skills. I think that this is an important lesson in assuring that your children get the messages being pushed on them. You do not want to be a druggie in their eyes like my husband apparently is!
Becca
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Wow! I don’t know what they’re teaching over there but here in England, while they do point out the dangers of smoking, they sure aren’t daft enough to leave kids with the impresson we’re all druggies!
I would think about maybe pointing out to the teacher that some of the kids are getting confused about the difference between druggies and cigarette smokers. Thanks for this post! I’ve made doubly sure that my kids are sure of the differences now!
Hey that is funny… it happened to a friend of mine when her daughter was around the same age. She was at school, raised her hand and told the class her mother was a drug addict because she smoked cigarettes….too funny, the things kids say…
Sephrenia I intend on pointing out to the teacher that they are perhaps missing the message. I do not want my kids to be confused about what is what! Thanks for visiting!
Becca
Jenn it is only funny because it is not yet your daughter raising her hand telling people her mom is a drug addict. They things that kids say are cute…
Becca
Addiction is an issue even in the relm of the professionals. How can you expect a child to distinguish who has an “addiction” and who are those people who are “druggies” and “criminals.”
Most people who smoke ARE addicted to cigarettes- maybe they do it for the emotional effects; perhaps the physical properties. Now pharaceutical companies have a chemical solution so the first thing they do is put out commercials that tell people that they are addicted to cigarettes and can take a pill and be cured.
How can we expect children to make a distinction with all of the one sided information out there. Am I an alcoholic because I drink a beer every day? Or am I an alcoholic because I drank 5 beers on a Friday to forget about the week? (I am a non-smoker and always have been.) Am I a “social” drinker or an “alcoholic”? Wait- if I drink alone, am I an alcoholic?
Perhaps, in an effort to protect children, the curriculum says that ANY use is abuse. What happens when children become teenagers and they start to realize that the exagerrations told by teachers were not what is the reality?
Uh-oh! Schooling these days really concerns me as well. Sometimes I even think about home schooling. Only my eldest is in school at the moment though so I am trying to be really vigilant about what e is picking up through really checking hos work and having regular chats with his teachers about the lesson content.
I’m wondering if the teacher’s intentions are for kids to avoid smoking by showing it as dangerous drug abuse. I think making it out to be that way was poor judgment on the school’s part because the likelihood of parents being smokers is too high for them to assume it won’t be noticed, but since nicotine is an addictive drug, they’re technically not lying.
I do think it’s wrong for them to make the relatives of kids who smoke seem like they’re bad people and it sounds like they’re not making the distinction between illegal drugs and cigarettes which I think they should be corrected on. Smokers are obviously not criminals and shouldn’t be treated like they are. Sometimes kids make their own interpretations though and the teacher probably needs to clarify that.