Illegal to smoke if you have kids

Really?...im Canadian too and this is the first iv herd of this, and its a shock to me. They already cut smokeing from all puclic places...and now this....its gotta stop somewhere.....but i do understand in a way, but i still think it is not right!......i do not smoke, but everyone i know do smoke and they wouldnt stop smokeing around their children ever!

I do think that it would be impossible to enforce a law such as this. One would almost have to be pulled over for another violation and be found to be smoking with a child in the car! That said, I do agree with the premise of the proposed law. Basically, it boils down to the fact that if one smokes around a child, the child is inhaling secondhand smoke. It has been proven in countless studies that secondhand smoke is dangerous and causes as many cancers, asthmas and other problems as does smoking. Therefore, when one smokes around a child, the child is being 'abused.' We do not allow adults to harm a child in any other manner, why do we allow them to harm a child with smoking? One would be arrested if they gave a child a dose of adult medicine or allowed the child to ingest a poison (if neglect is proven)...so why do we lawfully allow adults to smoke around a child and harm them? Just my two cents!

I hope it works. I have nothing against smokers, I was one until a few weeks ago. I smoked for 13 years. But I have never smoked in my home after I had children. I think in a way it is a form of child abuse to smoke around your child. Everybody knows the effects of second hand smoke, why would they want to do that to their child. Even if you smoke by a window the smoke is still in the house, and on their children's things. I can't see it working all too well, especially in people's homes, but I think parents should sit down and think. Would you let a 5 year old light up a smoke? Probably not, but smoking in the house or the car with them is the exact same thing. We are supposed to be protecting our children, not exposing them to dangerous chemicals.

I believe that Australia is about to also pass a law that will fine you for smoking in the car and I must say that I have to agree with that one, the car is such a small enclosed space. The house is another matter, how would it be policed? would friends, family have to dob them in?

I don't think that passing laws is the way to get people to stop smoking around their children. I believe that education is the key to changing unhealthy habits. I was about 5 months along with our first son when during an examination my doctor heard my husband's smoker's cough. She stopped the examination and discussed his smoking habits with him. She told him about the effects of smoking around an unborn child and encouraged to stop doing so immediately. Since then he has always smoked outside and never in the family car. She was very insistent about it and it has made a strong impression on him. It hasn't stopped him from smoking, but he never smokes around any of our 4 children.

i think its a good way to protect children from smoke as i think it is unfair to expose children to that kind of risk. However, some people will find it harder to quit and risk a jail sentence which will have negative affects on the family as well.