Brochure Designed To Help Parents Nationwide Prevent Kids From Smoking

’Could your kid be smoking’ Provides Pointers for Parents

RICHMOND, VA (September 12, 2005) - Just in time for back to school, a new resource is now available nationwide to help parents determine whether or not their children might already be smoking and provide them with suggestions on what to do about it.

Called Could your kid be smoking?, the brochure provides tips for parents on ways to talk to and ask their child if he or she is smoking, provides suggestions on how to respond if parents find out that their child is smoking and offers ideas for parents on how to support their child’s stop smoking efforts.

“Many teenage smokers become addicted much sooner than they’d expected, and have a more difficult time quitting than they’d anticipated,” said Lawrence Kutner, PhD, a nationally known child development expert and an advisor to Philip Morris USA Youth Smoking Prevention’s parent communications initiative. “The risk is very real. Knowing how to spot the warning signs and how to talk with a child about his or her smoking can go a long way toward preventing your child from smoking or helping your child quit.”

Could your kid be smoking? points out that some warning signs of teen smoking are subtle and easy to miss while others might be more obvious. For example:

* Have you smelled smoke on her clothing or hair?
* Have you seen matches in his bedroom or a lighter in his backpack?
* Has she started making excuses to go outside?
* Has he been leaving the windows in his bedroom open for no reason?
* Are there burn holes in her clothing?
* Has he started using mouthwash, breath mints or gum?
* Does she have friends who smoke?

The Could your kid be smoking? brochure is the third in a series titled, Raising Kids Who Don’t Smoke, which was created for parents of 10-17 year olds in consultation with an advisory board of respected parenting and child development experts. The first two brochures in the series Raising kids who don’t smoke and Peer pressure & smoking were designed to encourage parents to help their kids make the decision not to smoke. To date, more than 55 million free parent brochures in the series have been distributed across the country.

Free tip sheets on Parenting styles and youth smoking, Talking to pre-teens about not smoking, and Preventing kids’ access to cigarettes, are available online at the Parent Resource Center along with advice from child development and parenting experts on how to talk to kids about not smoking and resisting peer pressure. The free tip sheets can also be ordered by calling toll-free, 1-800-PMUSA-YSP (1-800-768-7297).

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