Ask Sam letter

Hi,

When you live with someone who smokes it can feel like you have no choice about whether you have to put up with it and the effects it has on you. Even if you can’t stop someone smoking, you have the right to live in a safe, clean home and to be protected from anything that is harmful to you – this includes smoke.

The government are doing a lot to make sure that smokers understand the harmful effects of smoking on the people around them but sometimes people may chose to ignore it. You did the right thing talking to your mum but sometimes it can take support to make a parent listen. 

If you wanted to show your mum advice about what smoking does and how to stop, you can take a look at the NHS Choices website. You could think about showing your mum what you find. It may also help to talk to someone in your family or maybe one of your mum’s friends to see if they can help you talk to her about it. 

Cigarettes contain nicotine, which is a drug and it can be really hard to quit so it is important that it is your mum who chooses to stop smoking. It may take your mum time and a lot of strength to do it but it is possible – NHS smokefree have some helpful advice for parents or anyone trying to stop smoking if you wanted to show her this too.

It doesn’t always work when you ask someone to stop smoking and some people choose to smoke for the rest of their lives. This can be hard to accept but what you can do is ask your mum to agree not to smoke near you – maybe she can go outside or agree to smoke out of a window. If your mum keeps ignoring you, my advice would be to talk to someone at school about it to see if maybe they can talk to your mum about how its making you feel.

You can also talk to a ChildLine counsellor.

Hope this helps.
Take care,
Sam