recent news reports featured the 'busting' of 8-9 year old 3rd-graders for smoking pot at school... so i don't see your characters as being that unusual...
Yeah, I started when I was eleven (and still going strong). Homelife really has nothing to do with it - more availability/exposure/peer pressure. Hell, he could be given a smoke by some well-meaning adult who sees he's upset about something, and that could get him started. If one or both of his parents smoke, he'd have an available supply (I used to sneak my mom's).
My two cents, and worth every penny of it. Why go through all the hoopla about why he started? I think I would be more interested, incredulous, strangely fascinated if I just saw a 10-year-old kid with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth James Dean style with no explanation than I would knowing all the background of why, bullying, oh that explains it, now I see. Just make it a part of his personality without an explanation and I'll remain curious, mabye a little subplot in my own mind trying to piece together how he aquired that habit when it's brought up during the story. Just have the kid be a smoker, no explanation. He bums a cigarette from the waitress at the sandwich shop, goes on about his business... I dunno. Just throwing it out there.
Thanks for the other answers since I've been away. Seems the general consensus is that having a kid smoke is 'normal'. @MrReliable3599 - your answer I will especially keep in mind. I'll have to see whether or not explaining it works well. Cheers.
One of my best friends ... well I say "best friend" because he tried to sell me drugs by my request, which he absolutely failed at because he is a narcissistic pig who can't sell for s--t ... started smoking when he was eight. He grew up in a household with a depressed mother who did drugs, and at a fairly early age he and his father found her dead hanging from the wardrobe ceiling. Somehow she managed to hang herself in a belt. Another guy I know, ginger, who also happens to be an arrogant prick with delusions of grandeur - thinks he can sing, thinks he's smart, thinks he can read well - started smoking on and off when he was about eleven. So yes, it would be plausible.
Are you consciously co-relating smokers who started young to their adult, arrogant counterparts? In short, are you implying that those who start to smoke at a young age end up being somewhat unlikeable personalities? Or was it a mere coincidence that the two cases you mentioned could be connected in that way?
To be honest most of the people I know who smoke are arrogant pricks, except those who, coincidentally, are potheads as well as smokers. It's likely due to their unfortunate past that it all funneled into both arrogance and smoking.
Wow. Someone with a cigarette in their mouth must have done something...wrong to you. Whatever it was, that sucks. I smoked for over 30 years, but quit three years ago. Do you think I have a chance of not continuing to be an arrogant prick? Or perhaps because I quit smoking, perhaps over time I could hope to recover from arrogant prickdom? Was I an arrogant prick because I smoked? Or did I smoke because I was an arrogant prick? I'd probably vote for the latter if I were objective. I'm dating myself, but I grew up in a time where my parents both smoked just like 60% of the population, smoking was not only allowed but encouraged in public places such as retail stores, and we kids practiced with candy cigarettes that were probably more dangerous teaching massive sugar intake than they were teaching smoking habits. Just look at any 60's videos of the United States Congress and you'll see the world my parents (and I) grew up in. I'm glad to finally be informed that my parents were arrogant pricks, I KNEW IT! Pothead? I take that personally. If you remember the 70's you weren't there, O.K.? Even though I indulged in smoking like an arrogant prick, and potheading like a stoned arrogant prick in my younger days, I don't think I turned out that bad, but then again, I never had anyone do anything that terrible to me with a cigarette hanging out of their mouth.
Yeah, let's not correlate young smokers - or smokers in general - with personality types. Or home life for that matter. It's really insulting - my folks were great parents, hard-working, devoted to their kids. I started smoking because I wanted to. Period. And not all smokers are arrogant pricks - I also know a few non-smokers who would fit that description.
Read what I said. I said that I know people who smoke, who also happened to arrogant. I said that I know potheads, who are smokers as well, who aren't arrogant. I did not at any time imply that smoking and arrogance are directly correlated. I said that an unfortunate childhood can cause both of them, in the same way an unfortunate childhood can cause self harm, alcohol abuse, and emotional frailty. I'm saying that MOST of the smokers I know are arrogant pricks. I'm not arguing this. It was a misunderstanding on your part. But yeah, someone who smokes, and is an arrogant prick, did something terrible to my mother which caused her plenty of psychological distress. But that's pretty irrelevant since it's not interfering with my viewpoint. OP asked if it was plausible for a 10-12 year old kid who has been abused to have a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. The answer is yes. A lot of people - but far from all - who has had unfortunate childhoods get into the wrong crowds and start doing that kind of stuff. And a lot of people with unfortunate childhoods get emotionally scarred in some way. Some people become insecure, some people arrogant, some people depressed, and some people get out of it just fine. It's just a fact. Look around.
In other words, your specifically bringing up the two "arrogant pricks" had absolutely no bearing on the plausibility issue. Had you simply stated you knew some people who started smoking young and therefore it was perfectly plausible, it would have been more than sufficient, yes?
It differs from where the kid domiciled or perhaps is studying. Just above as I read through some thoughts some one mentioned in Italy a 5 year old can buy ciggy's, adding more detail to that comment some one said it depends from which part of the city or country. It again depends on the exposure, I like the comment of a member who said smoking is practised by cool people which is true to a great extent, no one wants to force some one to a pleasure to induce pain. I mean "Bullies don't want to force another kid to smoke and waste money & fags on some one they want to bully". Bullies want to get some pleasure and have fun bullying the other kid... Thoughts - The bully can force the protogonist to smoke if they have an idea that he doesn't like smoking, or if he is not comfortable even as a passive smoker, or if the protogonist has complained against the bully to the principal of the school about their smoking habits and so on... Need to validate the teasing process ...
I'm sorry. I just have a reaction to people pissing on my leg and telling me it's raining. YOU read what you said. You repeated that, "MOST of the smokers I know are arrogant pricks," clearly making a point of it, but that doesn't reconcile with, "I did not at any time imply that smoking and arrogance are directly correlated." Those sirens you hear are Bullshit Alarms going off all over town. If you honestly think you "did not at any time imply that smoking and arrogance are directly correlated," you are the one with severe misundestandings, clinical I would guess. But I don't believe that. You're not arguing this? DAMMIT! There go those sirens again! Just don't tell me it's raininig.
They smoke. They happen to be arrogant pricks. The latter is irrelevant, but not untrue. There is no direct correlation between smoking and arrogance. Now stop being an arrogant prick. Yes. I just felt like mentioning it.
Might I suggest that in the future, you think a little longer about "just mentioning" things. That way your actual point doesn't get lost.
I am not sure how I supposed to say this without being snobby. So I will preface this by saying that I do not mean to lecture you or tell you what to do. However, the comment you make seems to indicate that you don't expect to regret it later. I think that's where you're missing the point. It's very well known how bad smoking is and how much pain it causes people at an older age. It depends on your usage of course but in general it is fair to say that most average smokers are going to suffer the effects of their habit. And I think that is one of the key issues with smoking, there is no sense of urgency in stopping. It's like a toothpain. Most people only go visit the dentist when the pain is undeniable. I'd propose putting something like: "if you continue at this rate you will die mext monday, 12PM" on cigarettes, but that ain't likely to happen now is it? As for weed, my stance is quite mild on that. There are a lot of misconceptions about it. However, I can't help but think that starting to smoke weed at 12 isn't very healthy for your brain. I don't mean to sound demeaning but even though I have been corrected on some of the misconceptions I held about weed, that thing about young usage affecting brain development still holds true. Once again. These are your personal choices and I am not trying to talk you down, yet at the same time I can't deny being shocked to learn that you started smoking weed at such a young age.
Actually it's effect on developing (read: adolescent) minds is well documented, and extremely detrimental.
Yeah, but maybe he just likes smoking weed, which is why he doesn't regret it. It doesn't always have to be negative.
