Growing up with a father who has been smoking since my birth, I’ve considered smoking harmful my whole life for various causes. I believe that most people understand the damage caused by smoking. However, how cigarettes can affect a family in multiple aspects might be unknown to some people. Throughout this article, I will explain the real experience of living with cigarettes for eighteen years. I hope it can persuade smokers to quit this habit and make the public understand how profoundly cigarettes can harm an ordinary family. The consequences which are often underestimated extend far beyond personal health.
My family members all face health issues due to the secondhand smoke from my father. My mother and I suffer from chronic headaches. My sister and I have experienced tonsillitis several times. My brother has otitis media. Moreover, it usually takes more time for us to recover from a cold. Among us three kids, my younger brother has the most serious problem. He now still suffers from a cold which has persisted for one month. Not to mention the harm to the smokers themselves; the consequences of breathing in secondhand smoke are already significant enough. There are still some potential risks of fatal illnesses, such as asthma and several types of cancer, especially in children. What happened to my family is relatively lucky. We didn’t get any illness that might threaten our lives. However, it’s a warning of what might happen on the next family who is also exposed to lots of secondhand smoke.
Apart from the health concern, financial strain is also a big difficulty. According to the estimate from Ministry of Health and Welfare, people usually spend more than three hundred and sixty thousand New Taiwan Dollars if they maintain the habit of smoking for ten years. A small pack of cigarettes may seem like a minor expense every single day. It turns out to be a considerable amount when we continue smoking over the years. While we often associate with the immediate spending of buying cigarettes, the potential medical costs might also be unbelievable. When there’s one of we three kids gets a cold, the medical charges always rank among the top priorities in the monthly expenditure sheet. The financial strain contributed by smoking not only affected individuals’ budgets but also the whole families’ economic plan.
For as long as I can remember, my family has been quarreling about smoking. All the problems mentioned above result in conflicts within my family, including everyone’s health concerns and financial burdens. From polite requests to heated arguments, despite numerous attempts to persuade my father to quit smoking, the problem persists. We’ve only met with limited success. That is to persuade him to smoke outside. At the very beginning, my father always smokes at home. After our consistent efforts, we finally found the common ground. Nonetheless, the smell of cigarettes can stick to the clothes for a very long time, and it can still make the whole space filled with that smell at the end. Cigarettes can be a shadow that lingers on families’ lives. It can also be a demon that makes mischief the relationship in a harmonious family.
From the perspective of a smoker’s daughter, I fervently wish my dad had never smoked. Cigarettes are damaging for smokers themselves and the people around them. From affecting health situations to provoking fights, the results of using cigarettes are perilous and far-reaching. To shield our loved ones from suffering, it is imperative to take the crucial step of quitting smoking.
