Hearing the personal stories of smokers and former smokes should be enough to make anyone not want to smoke. Parents should have some of these stories handy when they are talking to their kids about smoking and why they shouldn’t smoke. When asked to tell the story of they started smoking most smokers say because it was cool or because they just wanted to try it. Most smokers start smoking as teenagers. Some people say in their stories that they started smoking because a parent smoked, or because they saw someone smoking on TV. Listening to people tell their personal smoking stories can help you understand why they started smoking. That can help you, as a parent, influence your kids not to start smoking. You kids will probably not want to listen to other people’s stories about smoking but it can be important for them. No one should be forced to listen to smoking stories but you can encourage your kids to listen and ask questions. Listening to an ex-smoker tell a story about why they started smoking and why they regret it might make your child decide not to smoke.

If you know someone who smokes, listening to smokers stories of declining health or even the death of a loved one due to secondhand smoke might make them decide to quit. If they don’t want to quit for themselves they might quit for the health and safety of those around them after hearing the stories of people who have lost loved ones to secondhand smoke. Stories about the effects of secondhand smoke on workers in places where there is a lot of smoke like bars can be very sad. Awful smoking stories can be the best thing to use to keep people from starting to smoke.

Where can I find true smoking stories?

If you want to use some examples of personal smoking stories to help convince your kids or another loved one not to smoke there are lots of resources available. The Internet can be a great tool for finding true smoking stories. There are many quit smoking sites where people who have quit smoking share their personal stories about how they quit smoking. Those stories can be very inspirational and can help convince someone else to quit. Telling your story and saying “this is my smoking story” puts it on a level that everyone can relate to and understand.