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Sunday, May 18, 2008

Not all smokers are irresponsible around kids

True story here, and this relates to my last couple posts.

I walked into the garage at my dad's house because I though he might be involved in a project I could help with. The project he was working on was a cigarette. "Oh, I better put this out," he said, "I don't want your boy to see me doing this."

Thankfully the boy didn't follow me into the garage. My point here is that I respect my dad for not letting my son see him smoke. Here it's his home, he can smoke wherever he wants, but he goes into hiding. How cool.

I was 18-years-old and I went with my dad and my brothers to hunting camp. We arrived before anyone else, and made a fire. Then I watched as my dad lit up a cigarette.

I swear to you I never had a clue that my dad smoked. He told me he quit for a few years a few times, but he had smoked since he was 17 or so. Still, I never once ever saw him smoking before; I had absolutely no clue he smoked.

Why? Because he was a considerate and responsible parent who never smoked in front of his children. He never smoked in the family car. He never smoked in the house.

And now, as a grandpa, he still goes into hiding when kids are around.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

My father-in-law is the same way, when the kids are around he walks someplace where they will not see it smoke. The older ones know he does but he doesn't smoke in the car or in the house. Class Act.

Anonymous said...

Good for him for recognizing himself as a role model for his grandson (besides the obvious health issue. Even better that you didn't have to ask him to put it out.

Anonymous said...

It's nice to see this, instead of the strident debate here in Michigan about the potential ban on smoking in restaurants. I've even seen some smokers call non-smoking advocates the equivalent of Nazis...Kudos to your dad!