The question of the course of action a parent ought to take when he or she finds that his or her

child is smoking is a complicated, multi-faceted issue. For one, the parent wishes not to scold the child
in such a way that the two are alienated from each other, but the parent also wishes that the behaviour
stop for the good of the health of the child. If I were a parent myself, I would take into consideration
the character of my child and what sort of communication would be appropriate to mitigate the risks
mentioned earlier. I would be most likely to seek out a time at my child’s leisure and to sit down with
him or her to discuss the behaviour in a setting most comfortable to them. While I would stand strong
in my own personal position that smoking is bad for health, and while I would present strong, scientific
evidence, I would ultimately have to acknowledge that the decision made by the child is his or her
decision, and that if there are consequences, that I had already done my due diligence by informing him
or her of the dangers of smoking. The situation becomes more complicated if my child were not mature,
and were, say, in sixth grade or younger. In this situation, I would be more likely to directly intervene
seeing as my child at this age likely can’t make good decisions for him or herself. While I would still have
to make sure that I am not overbearing, I would have to take some elements of life into my own control,
such as time spent outside the house without a parent, and which friends I would allow my child to visit.
There are many factors at play in this, such as the education in school as to the harm of smoking, and
the demographic of the neighbourhood. However, my approach would remain the same regardless of
these factors. The large amount of variables must be taken into account when deciding how a parent
ought to respond to a child who the parent finds out is smoking.