Law to ban second hand smoke around children

You make it sound like we should be hung from the nearest tree and lynched. What about our right to choose? And what if it is on a limited basis? Does that change anything, or are we still bad parents in your eyes? You make it sound as if we publicly flog our children with complete disregard to others. There are worse things you can expose a child to, I would know. My father is a recovering alcohlic, who just quit 3 years ago. I would choose him smoking everyday all the time in the car over what he did when he was drinking any day! There are a lot worse parents out there than parents who smoke with their kids in the car. Shouldn't we focus on them first and then move our way down the list? I feel taht our right to choose is just that: out right. What if you there was a law saying you can't take pictures of your children when they are naked? Would you still feel the same? Therapists say that doing that "traumatizes" our children and their mental health...do you agree with that as well? Or do you think that that is acceptable. Just trying to make a point, since everyone is so quick to judge us as bad parents who don't care about the well-being of our children.

While I can follow the basic idea of the law, I really can't follow the principle behind it. I understand that there are serious health risks to your child for smoking around them. I also understand that enforcing this law would be almost impossible to do, unless as a smoker you had to register and give the government permission to video in your home and car. That is the only way I can think of that they would be able to KNOW who is doing what. And why this law? What is the purpose behind it? Is she suggesting it because there are also other laws in the works that she really wants? And why such a stiff penalty? I know of people who have beaten their kids, put them directly in harms way and kept their kids but they are going to take someone's kids because they smoked around them? What is up with that?

I think the government needs to stay out of our homes....I'm all for protecting the children EVEN THOUGH I do smoke in my home and the only time I didnt was when my youngest was alive and home...What I do in my home is MY business and as far as I'm concerned this and anything like this ISNT REALLY about the kids....its a money thing..lets face it ppl its ALWAYS a money thing when it comes to the government.....

I can see it working for the car, but not in the house unless the law officials started searching house to house. As far as having the children taken away, that seems extreme and may be worse in the long run. After all, there are so many parents that smoke around their kids that where would all the kids go if they were taken from their parents? To a foster home? To a orphanage (do these still exist)? And who's to say the people that take these kids in won't smoke around them? No, the best thing to do is to educate the parent(s) and help them to quit smoking. I saw someone also mention the parent who smokes around their kids should get fined. I like that idea a lot. Maybe it'll help give that "kick in the @$$" these people need to stop polluting their children. I have a few questions. What if it's not the parents that smoke, but rather someone who is watching the child(ren) (it could be a grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc)? What would happen to the kids and their parents then? And what if those same parents weren't aware of what was going on? Would they still get in trouble? Or would only the people smoking around the kids get in trouble?

I havent heard this one yet. But I have heard the one about smoking in the car with a kid in it being illegal. I dont know. I am in the middle on this one. I agree about the innocent children, but come on, now we are being restricted with what we do in our own home??

I think that it should become a law. I hate when people smoke around my children. I don't smoke, neither does my husband. When my children come home from their Grandma's they smell like smoke horribly and I have to wash everything that they had with them. I feel that a child shouldn't have to suffer from your habit. If your going to smoke do it anywhere except around children.

I heard of something like this. I agree with it 100%. It might seem a little harsh at first, but it's all worth it. I think it's about time someone steps up. I am an x-smoker and I never smoked around my kids. That is just not right in my eyes. I'm glad they are trying to fix this problem.

I say that this proposed law is a good one because it is a way of protecting children against diseases brought about by unnecessarily inhaling smoke coming from their own parents! But of course, before being enacted into a law, there should be consultations with all concerned in order for it to be acceptable. But I guess since it is part of children's protection, it would be passed. When I was young, I was considered a second hand smoker because my father was a chain smoker. It's good that I, together with my sister did not develop any respiratory complications, but my mother did--she developed emphysema. If this can happen to adults, how much more for little children whose body are yet fragile and immature? Come to think of it. Parents should restrain themselves for the sake of their children.