Jump to content

Smoking at dance school


Madmum

Recommended Posts

My husband has never smoked, because his scout leader did.

The way that happened was that, in camp, the leader's coughing in the mornings sounded as though he was on the point of death, it was quite frightening. After a few minutes of this he would struggle out of his tent, still coughing, and say to the lads, 'Don't be like me and start smoking, it's a trap. I want to give up but I can't: I'm a slave to the stuff.' As they respected him they believed him, and none of them took up smoking, even when they came from families where the parents did smoke.

Maybe more dancers and dance teachers who smoke could copy his example?

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 23/05/2021 at 12:03, Peony said:

Perhaps young people just haven’t seen the negative health effects of smoking and the effect on skin/ teeth etc and the  real struggle that it is to give up. There are not many of their parents or even grandparents generation who are still smoking and they’re just not around smokers to see the wrinkles, yellow teeth, breathlessness etc for themselves

 

Definitely I agree with this.  If you don't see the side effects of something, it's harder to believe they exist.  I think that's part of the problem with people opposed to vaccination as well.  My mother grew up scared of catching polio because one of her cousins was severely disabled after she caught it so Mum vaccinated me against everything she possibly could.  Now people don't see anyone with polio so they don't understand what a horrible disease it was. 

 

Similarly I never smoked because it killed my godfather and smelled awful.  Now I am in my 40s and none of my friends smoke and none of my family smoke because we were the generation that saw their grandparents and uncles suffering the results and struggling to quit.  If someone is a young person now they won't see as many smokers as I did growing up so may not believe in how awful it can be watching them die by slow degrees.  

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this thread, it has been a very interesting topic and I have been genuinely moved by so many your posts (especially Ballet4Boyz - I am full of admiration for you and I hope your son has the best time at Central), its also given me a little more insight into the dance world and highlighted some things to keep an eye out for. 

However, for now I am hoping that my dilemma is resolved, I have had ongoing discussions with DD and the school and it seems that the report I received about the smoking was actually incorrect.  Apparently she had been judged by the company she was keeping as opposed to any actual sighting or proof of smoking, so I will be giving her the benefit of doubt.  It was a stressful week for everyone and I think DD certainly received the message loud and clear that she not only needs to be squeaky clean but needs to be seen to be squeaky clean too! a very tough but valuable lesson for a teenager to learn :)

 

 

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...