Did I Witness Child Abuse Today?

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Did I Witness Child Abuse Today?


While walking I saw a young lady carrying a very young baby, no not early infant, I cannot really tell the ages. She was smoking a cigarette and the child was held into place on her front end by a holder so her arms wouldn’t be used. I saw the smoke get really close to the child, second hand smoke was likely inhaled by the infantile lungs.


Topic Conversation Starters:

1. Should active measures be taken to where smoking is not around a child such as a baby during early development? At least where there is a choice consciously where the child at a certain age of development can choose to remove him or herself from the influence environmentally?

2. Do you think that second hand smoke can create anxiety disorders and attention disorders based upon subtle withdrawals of second hand smoke? Possibly causally effecting a child psychologically during development?

3. Should smoking around a child during certain stages of development be considered a crime, such as lesser non-felony?

I think you need to check the laws for you area. Different parts of the world have varying degrees of smoking laws, some possibly in place to protect children from the situation you just witnesed. I know that where I live, smoking in enclosed public spaces is illegal, but not in other parts of the country.

I can reasonably suspect the following of those who said it was not abuse:

1. They themselves are smokers.

A. Either they have or have not done the same thing to there children.
B. Have done so and are in denial of the causal consequences.

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Perhaps despite objection they do not feel bad about the possibilities of health consequences or really do feel bad but are in denial.
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2. Will vote against regardless of health consequences because they don’t want laws that intrude.

3. Are not aware of the health issues relevent to second hand smoke.

4. Smokers who will object because they don't like the posts insinuations.

Joke:

They are tobacco industry lawyers or stock holders who still deny the health consequences of smoking. Additional laws would possibly reduce there wealth.

And all quiet as the person with firsthand experiance walks into the room. Everyone set? Good. I speak having had roughly 24 years of secondhand smoke put onto me(that's 14 years per parent, minus 4 years dad divorced). I assume that my mother smoked while she was pregnant with me, and did the same when she was pregnant with my brother. This is not child abuse by any standard. What did you expect her to do? Leave the baby in the room while she took a smoke? Let's think this through people! The only arguement you can make is that she is depriving the baby of oxygen, which is the arguement often made for smoking during prenancy. This can potentially harm the development of the brain. However, that is in the womb and is much different, as smoke can leave the air relatively quickly around the baby. S/he would at most get 2 or 3 good puffs of smoke before it went away. That won't do a damn thing to a child. Other than that, it would take a very extensive period for the baby to get lung cancer. And other than making it so that smokers couldn't have children, you aren't going to be stopping that. In short, this was not child abuse. Don't mix real child abuse(belts, severe spankings, etc.) with this kind of thing. It lowers standards.

There are differing forms of child abuse.. Perhaps endangerment?


No I think there are obvious differences between belting a child which is immediate and let’s say exposing a child to second hand smoke. Obviously the parent is addicted, so it is not really a malicious scenario compared to assault.

Yes ... that's a form of child abuse, though I would doubt she even knew it was child abuse. Most smokers are introverts when it comes to their nasty habit, and they just don't give a damn one way or the other what their smoke can do to themselves and to others. If they don't see it as child abuse themselves, then it's not child abuse. She should, however, be repromanded in some manner for it, but I don't support the authorities placing everyone under surveillance for these sorts of things.

My mother smoked a pack and a half of cigarettes a day when pregnant with me. This was heavily documented in records I had retrieved for the school. When my mother irritates me, I sometimes say something like: "You know what? You smoked when I was pregnant, so I wouldn't talk! What makes you so normal? Smoking your cancer sticks? Now look how I turned out!" Obviously, she deserves comments like that, because she was stupid enough to believe that smoking wouldn't harm a baby.

- Ray M -

The funny thing is that my mother knew the problems. I alerted her to them and chided her for it. And she did it anyway. I consider it as my ace in the hole if I ever go on a bender or something. It's amazing how I am so disorganized in real life yet my mind is perfectly chaotically balanced so that it will continue at a nice pace until something smashes it to bits.

I don't consider smoking around one's child to be Child Abuse.

Depends if you like the smoke or not, if you like it you’re addicted to the second hand smoke. A child deserves the choice and freedom to be away from such known health hazards.

He or she first must have reasonable cogent abilities to rationally and reasonably determine this for him or herself. Still the legal age to smoke is 18 here, second hand smoke is still inhaling.

I didn't get the choice. This is sort of like hazing the new kids because it happened to me, but if I didn't get the choice why do they?

I was around second hand smoke growing up and I did not like it. I am not sure if I understand your comparison.

With people speaking out such as me and others, it makes such laws more logical. If because you did not have the opportunity to benefit from such laws, then why should there be no laws if you could not have benefited from them before?

Yeah ... I say that to my mother some times, usually when she doesn't truly understand me for some reason or another ... but, honestly, though, I haven't seen much evidence stipulating that smoking causes AS or ADHD or childhood schizophrenia. It is said to be genetic in factors, and I have seen more reports stating that birth anoxia can cause similar problems, and I had that also. I believe I may have read smoking might lead to birth anoxia, but it doesn't always. So, I don't know if smoking can be a major factor. I think genetics overall can play a major factor. I do think that smoking does cause problems, however. There are reports that it causes problems, but I do not know if they are the AS type.

- Ray M -

They are not. If they did, I would be on a pack a day by now.

I saw a write up once, has nothing to do with A.S. Perhaps nicotine in a child can for the withdrawal symptoms mimic ADD type of symptoms of distractibility.