Allowing 16 Year Old To Smoke

[spathiphyllum]

Is allowing, or offering a 16 year old smokes, a form of grooming if the person doing it is above the age of 21?

[sanmac]

Here are some uneducated people who smoked: Einstein, Edison, Bell, Freud, Churchill, FDR, and JFK.

[andy-hughes]

I wouldn't use the emotive term 'grooming', but I wouldn't encourage anyone of any age to smoke, it looks like what it is - a ridiculous way to waste money.

[mallyh]

I wouldn't offer a youngster a ciggie .I think i'm educated, when I started smoking it was the thing to do and yes I've tried to stop but quite honestly with the stress in my life i'd explode without a puff x

[nailit]

//it looks like what it is - a ridiculous way to waste money//
And so is tipping beer down the throat or sticking needles full of drugs into ur veins...
Just seems to me that humans are prone to addictions.

[Barmaid]

I think there is a difference between "allowing" and "encouraging".

I'm also a bit shocked that a health professional can make such a sweeping statement.

But to get back to the question, I am not sure it is "grooming". Context, I think, is everything.

[Tashi]

// I'm also a bit shocked that a health professional can make such a sweeping statement. //

My job does not involve smoking, it is purely my opinion, ok?

[david small]

It used to be quite legal to by cigarettes and smoke at sixteen. I started at 8 years old. Stopped until 12 years old then smoked for years until they went to a pound for twenty. Not touched one since. Giving a fag is not grooming, nor giving a cake, or bag of chips. If so I must have been groomed many times and never noticed.

[spathiphyllum]

I just find it odd behaviour personally... I didn't think it was grooming but i questioned it because in my mind it walks a close path.

Is it possible to groom a 16 year old?

Down the local skatepark about 10 min from my house, there are people who congregate from all ages. Everyone looks a similar age, but some are as young as 16 (females) and some males (24) seem to be very buddy with them. I personally find this behaviour quite strange, as i personally think 16 year olds can be quite juvenile in that kind of environment.

[Cloverjo]

Spath, that reminds me of an ex-partner. He was in his 20s while friends with teenagers. He sold drugs to most of them. Looks really bad. In fact it was. He wasn’t grooming them though. Just his way to make money, and he was quite emotionally immature.