Last night I did a seminar for three kids who were caught smoking at their schools and sentenced by our local court system to an evening of me. I do these once a month. Yesterdays group was a little different. One of the kids was only 12. He was caught receiving the cigarette from another kid who was 13 who was also there. I don't know for sure whether he had smoked before or not or even whether he smoked the one he was caught with. The were apprehended before it was lit.
Usually the kids sentenced to me are older--15 to 17 years of age. It was a little sadder doing this program for kids this young last night. I do programs for kids this young, but I normally am approaching the group with the idea that most of them have not smoked yet and we are trying to prevent them from ever getting started in the first place. But two of the three kids here were definately smoking already and already facing troubles over it. The two boys were kicked out of school a week before classes ended, not able to end up the school year.
I gave out whyquit's address to the group. If the kids don't look in, maybe the parents will. If anyone here has stories or insights that they feel might influence young readers, today may be a particulary good day in posting them.
I hope kids looking in at Freedom and WhyQuit are influenced early on, hopefully before they ever start messing with nicotine to commit early on in their lives to never take another puff!
Joel