Speachless !!

[nsd_user663_34721]

This brought tears to my eye's!

Please feel free to comment.

Agreed and deleted enough said

[nsd_user663_32615]

Hi Gary

Before I comment on the poem, I should say that I am at quite a low ebb at the moment, so this could be an overreaction on my part.

Having said that, I don't think that this sort of thing belongs on this forum. This site works well because it is a group of people who share a common interest in quitting smoking. We develop relationships with each other, which allows us to offer support, advice, humour and consolation. This is very powerful, and has helped so many of us to get through our challenges.

Despite the strength of the relationships built here, our knowledge of each others' personal circumstances is limited to what they choose to share. This means that we all need to be somewhat sensitive when deciding what to say and how to say it.

We know that a lot of forum members are parents. We know that not all smoking parents have restricted themselves to smoking away from their children throughout their lives. We also know that even away from the smoking issue, guilt and parenthood seem to naturally go hand in hand at the best of times.

I found the poem itself to be mawkish rubbish, probably written by a raving non-smoker with an axe to grind. If I had seen this when I first joined the site, I would have run a mile, as the last thing I need is to be so shamelessly guilt tripped when I am looking for support.

That is what I think.

[nsd_user663_34742]

Unfortunately, I agree with the guilt thing.

I don't want to be made to feel any worse!

I have never smoked indoors around my children, but they have watched me smoke. The youngest saw it as a 'normal' thing to do whilst the eldest worried that Mummy is hurting her lungs. I felt guilty every time one of those adverts came on TV or whenever the youngest picked up a pencil between two fingers and 'took a drag' on it

Ugh, it's a tricky one. It does re-inforce why we won't go back, but there's no point in feeling rotten about what's been done when we have taken such brave steps to move forward.

That's all