Smoking and Parenting
Activists Invade Your House
By Daniel Muniz

In the beginning, anti-smoking legislation was necessary, especially in closed confined spaces where you could not avoid second-hand smoke. But the activists couldn’t stop there. New intrusive restrictions are beginning to spring up and some of them have now crossed the line into the absurd particularly when the rules involve parenting and what you can and cannot do inside your own house.

But first things first, I do not smoke and I have never smoked.

And I am all for sensible rules and limits that help maintain my breathing space. But those same rules ought to allow for smokers to pursue and preserve their own leisure right to light up, particularly when they are on their own property or inside their own homes. And just because someone smokes doesn’t mean that they have become a bad parent. Prudent rules are fine but stupidity isn’t.

Unfortunately, the ridiculous has entered into the mindset of those who oppose smoking.

Court battles are now brewing in child custody disputes in which parental smoking has become a central issue. And there have even been court rulings that forbid a parent to light up during a child visitation. Smoking is perfectly legal especially when you are inside your own house and a divorce doesn’t make it any more different regardless of how some people perceive it. Custody battles are already bad enough but it is silly and irresponsible to allow smoking to become a wedge issue and then to make it a condition for visitations.

But to take the anti-smoking paranoia even further, three states have already passed legislation that screens out a smoking foster parent. In addition, many local adoption agencies are now beginning to take smoking into consideration when it comes to placing children with foster parents. Many of these governmental entities would like to see even more restrictions established concerning how children are placed with people who smoke.
 

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Such regulations only leads to the question about how far should our government go in determining what acceptable behavior for parenting.

Other than smoking, what about junk food or certain television shows?

The world has plenty of destructive things in it but it is up to parental judgment and decision-making to avoid them.

But where does it really stop once smoking is regulated inside your own house, especially as a condition having your own children visit or live with you?

Understandably, the anti-smoking activists have legitimate issues concerning public smoking and I agree with the reasonable ones but I question how far legislation and regulations can be taken inside your own house and with your own children. If you own your own house, there should be nothing to prevent you from lighting up on your own property. And if you can demonstrate that you can be a good parent, then smoking should not prevent you from adopting?

Allowing governmental intrusion in parenting because of smoking opens the door to the state micro-managing parenthood. And such micromanagement has already begun in a few states. A child’s weight and dental hygiene are now being monitored by schools in those states.

In addition, terms like “the best interest of the child” or “protective status” are often tossed into these debates. And there is nothing wrong with taking that into consideration when there is an immediate danger to the welfare of a child. But a parent who smokes in the garage or in the backyard is not that kind of a threat and should not be treated as such.

Of course, there are exceptions that do involve the best interest of a child. For instance, suppose a kid has asthma. That is a legitimate concern and common sense and a parent’s judgment ought to prevail instead of finding intrusive ways to regulate the solution.

A smoker is not a lousy parent especially when you consider all the awful things that a bad parent does. There are lots of things to judge people by, especially when it comes to parenthood, but smoking isn’t one of them.

And it is also particularly shameful to think that local child protective services are expending time and effort to screen out smoking foster parents when there are so many other issues that already have a much higher priority. It is no secret that virtually every such agency is strapped for money and resources thus the effort to ferret out the smokers is enormously wasteful.

Instead, those same resources ought to be devoted to ensuring that kids are not placed with foster parents who won't beat, incarcerate, molest or "collect" children. A smoker is not on the same level as a child molester or an abuser or a collector. Unfortunately, the absurd “political correctness” of our day and age has elevated them as such.

Overall, smokers are not terrible people and waging war against them is wrong. Governmental agencies may win the battle against second-hand smoke but they can still lose the war in finding good foster parents who are able to care for the children who need wholesome homes.

And the good decent parents may also be robbed of quality time with their own children because of spiteful misdirected court orders and legislation that have placed smokers on the same level of hardened criminals.

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