When you are living in an environment with a kid along with you, you are responsible for looking out for an appropriate setting to provide your child with a better future to make him live prosperously and cherish his/her childhood. A parent is accountable for providing comfort and security to his/her offspring, which is inclusive of so many factors to measure and move forward.
The present generation of kids is too smart to analyze and calibrate what is apt for them, but the role of parents would always be consistent one no matter how much your kids grow up in age. But, while responsibilities amassed for a parent, certain habits and lifestyles could affect how your child is growing up. Some parents have a pattern that may be of frequent partying, some are more inclined towards alcohol consumption, and the rest of them are severely into smoking.
Studies and researches have put forth a discovery that might push every parent into a contemplating position; your child is suffering from Second-hand smoking. That’s correct. Second-Hand smoking would mean inhaling all the hazardous fumes due to someone else’s life-threatening habit.
A child is most times closer to his parent, and that’s where the problem commences occurring. Your smoking habit could be part of some stress or anxiety or just your sense of calmness to bring; in all cases, your child is suffering, and you may not be able to tap that problem at a correct duration.
How is it affecting the child?
According to an article published in The Hindu, research conducted on the above-aforesaid discovery, later published in The American Journal Of Epidemiology, describes the cognitive ability of around 2000 participants.
The results, when cumulated from the study, brought forth the conclusive results that a child’s exposure during his early years or maybe during his adolescent period can cause a defect in his cognitive abilities, which means the ability to think, memorize and remember.
The defect does not only remains incarcerated to early childhood days but becomes a mid-life crisis for your child when he/she is living a life of a middle-aged person; the memory power keeps going down. It becomes even weaker when facing old age. The findings of over 2000 participants mentioned brought into light a severe gap between those who had smoking parents at early childhood and those who did not.
There have been previous studies conducted on this issue, and the resulting factor came out was only a short-term memory being affected in children. Still, now, the reports bring horrible reality to warn such parents who are active or chain smokers as to say.
What Could be other Physical effects found in Children?
A report formed by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Second-Hand Smoking is primarily defined as a “Combination of the fumes from the burning end of the cigarette and also, the smoke breathed out by the smokers.”
This fume does contain approximately 7000 chemicals, out of which around 100 are severely toxic, and the rest 70 of them are a significant cause of cancer. Since children and infants can breathe faster than an adult, they are more likely to inhale the fume and develop the disease of certain kinds.
CDS has also reported a newer form of illness in infants, which led to their death at a sudden rate, which is also known as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). The other effects that have been described by physicians include:
- Premature Deaths from Heart Disease (Cardiovascular Disease)
- The expecting women who smoked during pregnancy could deliver infants weighing very less than average and are prone to SIDS after their birth.
- Developmental issues in Baby
- Inhaling second-hand smoke may affect the eustachian tube causing middle ear infection or hearing loss
- Maybe causing Leukemia, Brain tumors and Lymphoma in Children
- Slow development of lungs in children
- Reason for Bronchitis and respiratory tract infection in a child below the age of 18 months.
Best way to prevent diseases caused by Second-Hand Smoking
The best way to protect your child from these deadly fumes and the disease caused by it would be to smoke only outside the house and not nearby your child because air filters might not be giving enough protection in enclosed spaces.
Do not allow anyone else as well to smoke inside the house and try to keep your child away from spaces where people are smoking in enclosed areas. Going outside around smokers might cause harm if there is a wind blowing that too in your direction.
You could only ensure your child’s safety around smokers ad your smoking.
