Hookah And Kids

[KidPoker]

Should I let my kid(14 years old) smoke herbal shisha?

[JOE]

yah

[Venger]

My son is 17 and I am making him wait till he is 18 before I will let him smoke with me.Rules are rules and laws are laws. My wife says I should never let him smoke hookah because she thinks it will lead to cigarettes. I tried to explain to her that because I smoke hookah I have cut my cigarette smoking to only a couple a day instead of half a pack.She was a heavy smoker and quit and she doesn't want to see him go down that road.
Ray

[Deutsch am Herzen]

if you start him with herbal are you planning on letting him smoke real shisha? i dont have kids but i look at smoking hookah as more of a cultural thing than just smoking tobacco. in my opinion, if you expose kids to things like this early on (if its something they take interest in) they are less likely to be sneaking cigs in highschool. i'd rather have my kids smoking shisha in place of cigs anyday. my .02

[KidPoker]

Yeah, I wouldn't really mind if he smoked shisha. I started smoking in high school, and knew that parents could be stupid. I think it would be fine as long as he didn't smoke all the time.

[Travis]

If you tell him no, hes just gonna go somewhere else and get it.
Might as well do it at home with you, than out somewhere.

[Arcane]

[quote name='KidPoker' date='25 April 2010 - 02:51 PM' timestamp='1272243104' post='465393']
Should I let my kid(14 years old) smoke herbal shisha?
[/quote]
if it's illegal in your area, then no...

if not, then that's really up to you....would make for a good father/son time i'd think...

[Deutsch am Herzen]

[quote name='Travis' date='25 April 2010 - 06:22 PM' timestamp='1272244939' post='465399']
If you tell him no, hes just gonna go somewhere else and get it.
Might as well do it at home with you, than out somewhere.
[/quote]


yup. its the same thing with alcohol to some extent. kids in europe start drinking at an early age. that way when they do become "of age" its not really a big deal. thats why kids in the US turn 21 and go completely overboard with it

[TweakX4]

14 might be a little too young. but if you don't let him smoke it and he has accesses to it, he'll probably eventually sneak it, or cigarettes...

personally i wouldn't let him for a couple years. but either way, make a point of not letting his friends smoke it. that might be crossing the line with a lot of parents. 

[KidPoker]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I just don't have the heart to tell him no, when I'm sitting there myself.

[Travis]

[quote name='KidPoker' date='25 April 2010 - 08:42 PM' timestamp='1272246150' post='465405']
Thanks for the advice, everyone. I just don't have the heart to tell him no, when I'm sitting there myself.
[/quote]

..........i just noticed your username.........


...kidpoker

[KidPoker]

It's a professional poker player's online username. I thought it was funny too.

[TexasHookah]

No, kids should not smoke anything!

[Travis]

[quote name='TexasHookah' date='25 April 2010 - 09:15 PM' timestamp='1272248153' post='465410']
No, kids [b]should not[/b] smoke anything!
[/quote]

Yes should not, but they do.

Guarantee at least half the people here smoked before they were legally allowed.

[TheyCallMeDave]

Agree with everything said above.


He'll sneak the lifestyle around, learn everything about hookah incorrectly, and just overal, get a terrible misconception about hookah smoking if he doesn't learn/smoke with you. Let him learn form his father, and a experienced smoker. I mean, better you teach him than his friends introduce him to A, bad hookah smoking, B, cigarettes, or C, (god forbid) associating NHT with hookah.

It could be a good bonding experience for you two, and it would show him that you take him seriously. Nothing better than smoking hookah with the old man, I know I'd never get that opportunity.

[KidPoker]

NHT? Sorry.

[dizzbizz]

[quote name='CarePolice' date='25 April 2010 - 08:21 PM' timestamp='1272252080' post='465427']
NHT is anything you'd consider an illegal drug, I'm fairly sure. Don't remember the exact words to it.
[/quote]

NHT= Non Hookah Tobacco.

But to get on subject... I don't know man. 14 is kinda young, I'd tell him to wait till hes 16 or 17. I just can't picture me and my 14 year old sis hanging out smoking hookah. But you're his father and you know best. I doubt he'll get his hands on a hookah, considering I didn't even know about hookah till I was 18 and wet to a lounge. But maybe if you let him on rare occasions, just let him know its not to become a regular thing.

[srawas89]

I think you should let him take a puff or two but no more. If you want to make it more of a regular thing I would wait until he is 16 at least and say its ok if he does it once a month.

I am taking this from personal experience as I tried my first hookah when I was about 13 or 14 and it was just a puff or two. Then in high school I started when I was about 16 or 17 but it was not too often. Now I see hookah and I don't smoke it that much even though I have 2 and plenty of shisha (I only smoke maybe 1-3 times a week). I think when your son understands that you are okay with it as long as he doesn't smoke it too often he will be just fine.

[Stuie]

My kids aren't smoking anything until 18. Even if I am still smoking by then. Who knows that's 17 years away.

[RingsMaster]

kids are gonna do it if you flat out tell them no. my parents introduced me to things in a causal sort of way. i had sips of beer and other alcohols when i was younger, nothing more than a sip. i believe that i most likely would have gone over board with it in highschool if i were not introduced by my parents and shown how to drink and how no to drink and what to drink, ect. but there is a fine line to some 14 may be a little too young, its your decision as a father to see if he is responsible enough to handle something like this on a very very casual basis or if he will go out of control with it.

[ih303]

I'm split on this subject.

On one hand, it could be argued that you're entroducing him to a "gateway" substance that could lead to bigger & badder habits of abuse. On the other hand, there's the argument that in letting him smoke with you, you're taking away a lot of the taboo associated with smoking that kids that age are pressured by.

Kids these days are nuts. They're starting to do stuff earlier and earlier. I'm kind of leaning towards the "teaching and facilitating safe, responsible consumption habits" approach rather than the "sheltering, restricting, and punishing" approach. But who knows? Maybe I'll feel different tomorrow.

[Tyler]

Personally I say it really depends on how you approach it. Being half Italian, wine was a staple at our dinner table almost every night. I was only allowed a few sips when I was growing up untill the age of 15. When I turned 15 I was allowed one glass a week til I was 17, where I was allowed to have one glass per night. Now I am 23, I havn't had any alcohol in a really long time (religiou reasons moreso than anything) but the fact of the matter is, I was taught about wine's cultural significance and looked at it differently than most teenagers/early 20's people in the States. I believe the same thing can be done with hookah, regulate it, teach about it, and do not abuse it. Of course this is only if your son has a legitimate interest in it. Make him earn it, have him do a research paper on hookah this summer, after he's finished, read it together and talk about it -- it can be a great way to bond when he's older. It doesn't matter if it's herbal or tobacco in my opinion, I've lived in two heavily native areas for the majority of my life [Alaska and northern florida] and I know many kids who were taught about tobacco and their culture's connection to it who respect it.

[F16WarBird]

I don't have children, so I don't feel qualified to say whether it's right or wrong.

However, by the time I was 16, my parents knew I was smoking cigarettes. So, for Christmas, one of the gifts in my stocking was a carton of smokes and a Zippo. In hindsight, especially since I didn't quit smoking (cigs) until 2003, it probably wasn't the best message I received.

[Arcane]

[quote name='ih303' date='26 April 2010 - 03:51 AM' timestamp='1272289897' post='465485']
[b]"teaching and facilitating safe, responsible consumption habits"[/b] approach [/quote]
this method does have its pros...one being that at the younger ages, children seem more willing to take what you say to heart. in other words, "they listen". i know when i got older, my parents words eventually turned to "blah blah blah."

[joytron]

[quote name='Travis' date='25 April 2010 - 06:22 PM' timestamp='1272244939' post='465399']
If you tell him no, hes just gonna go somewhere else and get it.
Might as well do it at home with you, than out somewhere.
[/quote]

I have the opposite attitude, if you let him smoke with you, what is going to keep him from also going out and smoking as well. What you are doing by allowing him to smoke, is saying it is okay to break the law. You are also getting him involved in a hobby that is unhealthy and most likely life threatening. As far as herbal, no one knows if that is any safer and it is still illegal to smoke at the age of fourteen (I am assuming you are in the US).

I had a friend when i was much younger who's parents let us smoke NHT at their house. Their attitude was the same as yours, but the only real affect was that we smoked more in general.