<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" My mom won&amp;#039;t stop smoking. I tell her all the bad things that go along with it and how I could die from secondhand smoke, but she still doesn&amp;#039;t listen and keeps doing it. How do I persuade her to stop? Taylor, 15, Honolulu, Hawaii I can (unfortunately) totally relate to how you feel. I used to hide my father&amp;#039;s cigarettes from him all the time--but he&amp;#039;d find them, again and again. The main reason I wanted him to stop was that I was so scared he would die. And not to freak you out, but, in fact, he did die from smoking-related causes. (And so did my husband&amp;#039;s father.)   I bring this up to see if perhaps this fear may be driving you too. The fear of losing a parent is a really terrifying thing for someone your age. And sometimes parents who smoke (or do other self-destructive things) manage to put this terrible fear they have instilled in you out of their own minds.   I want you to show this column to your mom. Tell her this is how you feel. And P.S.: You&amp;#039;re right, it&amp;#039;s not just mentally and emotionally brutal, but physically dangerous for you also. Her smoking might give you cancer, too--there&amp;#039;s now research that shows this about secondhand smoke. Go to lungusa.org to get more information so you can show her that as well. Hopefully if she considers all of these things, she&amp;#039;ll start to listen and stop smoking. (Oh, also go to americanlegacy.org for all the latest methods to stop smoking--that way you can help your mom with the next step, which might be even more difficult than just deciding to do it.)   Now, if none of the above makes her agree to quit smoking, then ask her to respect your choice of not smoking by taking her cigarette breaks outside. You can&amp;#039;t force her to break the habit, but you can definitely encourage her to be more respectful of your body. My father didn&amp;#039;t listen to me, but truthfully I didn&amp;#039;t approach him in a mature way--by really explaining how it made me feel. Instead I would just hide his cigarettes, which ended up being a game and a distraction. I wish I&amp;#039;d had the presence of mind, as you do, to ask someone for advice. Good luck, my pumpkin. I know how you&amp;#039;re feeling, and I hope you get through to Mom. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/life/friends-family/q-and-a/a48/mom-smoking-ds-1006/>