Feeling blue

[Greenmom500]

I am feeling blue today.  My niece just got caught smoking (16).  She's a good. . .great kid (straight A student, respectful to parents, good with her little siblings).  If she can do it. . .How do I prevent / protect my children from smoking?  In my search for answers, I visited the site "realparentsrealanswers.com."  There's some good advice there -- it's worth a look.  What's the bottom line though?  I guess we all have to be vigilant in this.

[girlzstylin]

The key no matter what is talking to our kids about it. Not just lecturing why they shouldn't. Of course emphasize this but talk about it without judgment or fear. I found this to be the best way with my own child and even as a child myself. The more information I had and lesser the questions I had, the less likely I was to do something. Even good kids make bad choices. Even well informed kids make bad choices. Sometimes good kids have so much pressure to be the best they want to taste being bad just once. It doesn't make us bad parents. We were all young. Think about why you did what you did and what prevented you from doing the bad. Just talk and keep those lines of communication open.