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“Imitation of Film: Here’s Smoking at You, Kid”

In the article “Imitation of Film: Here’s Smoking at You, Kid” Nicholas Balkar tries to show us how movies can influence young children to smoke by showing them actors that smoke. The author quotes recent studies made by a professor of pediatrics, Dr. James D. Sargent, based on 6,522 children, nationwide. The results of those studies were overwhelming. They show that kids, who watched movies where actors are smoking, reached for cigarettes two and a half times more frequently rather than those who weren’t exposed to those movies. Dr. Sargent suggests that we all should take those studies seriously and I agree with him that we should not disregard them because smoking especially at a young age can cause a lot of health problems.  The one thing that was missing in his report was how many children began to smoke before they saw those movies. Although famous actors can have an impact on young kids I believe that their friends and family has a more major one since they see them everyday. Young kids don’t go to the movies that often for the movies to actually have a negative impact on them.

            Everyone knows that smoking is a bad habit, but people don’t care about their health until something bad happens. For example my friend started to smoke when she was 12 years old. She was a very beautiful girl who loved to do sports. She had asthma and she knew that she shouldn’t smoke, but she didn’t care. After a few years of smoking she ended up in a hospital because she had problems breathing. When I visited her in hospital I could barely recognize her. Her skin was gray and her teeth and nails were yellow. She looked horrible. When I asked her why didn’t you quit or why did you start to smoke in the first place? She replied that she thought it was cool and after a few months of smoking she tried to quit, but she couldn’t. 

            My friend is a great example of a person who didn’t have a good role model to lead her on a good path. Her parents were always busy and they didn’t pay attention to her. She spent most of her free time hanging out with her friends who were much older than she was. They offered her a cigarette, which was her first one. When she started to cough they were laughing and told her that maybe she shouldn’t smoke because she doesn’t know how to. She wanted to prove to them that they are wrong and after a while she was addicted to it. Her parents were always smoking cigarettes therefore they weren’t the best role models for her. No one told her that smoking could cause cancer, heart disease, lung disease, cancer and heart attacks.

            There are a lot of reasons why young kids reach for cigarettes. The people that can be blamed for causing a child to do bad are their friends and media but, as parents we are the main people that are responsible for this. If young children can have a stronger bond with their parents then no one would be able to convince them to reach for any unfamiliar item or do a specific activity.