We are all sore by the mention of the Ministry of Health - that smoking is harm. In stores, cigarettes are hidden from the eyes of customers with special curtains; scary pictures are drawn on the packages and categorical health warnings are placed in large print; increase the cost of cigarettes immensely.
And, nevertheless, schoolchildren and young people smoke.
Moreover, even those who sincerely want to get rid of this habit (and among adults this figure is up to 70%), for some reason it is not possible to do this. It is alarming that there are many modern young women and girls among smokers.
Often, in the first years of schooling, the child gets acquainted and gets used to smoking. And the anti-smoking campaigns carried out by teachers in schools are ineffective.
Somewhere in Soviet times, in queues and in kitchens, a paradoxical story was told of how the Moscow leadership spent millions of rubles on an anti-tobacco campaign among schoolchildren. With an invitation to lecture teachers, specialists, doctors; screening of special documentaries, etc.
We measured the effectiveness of this activity. It turned out that the number of schoolchildren who smoke has quadrupled.
Not decreased - but increased !!!
Experienced psychologists will tell you that this is exactly what should have happened. The fight against smoking should be carried out taking into account the psychology and age characteristics of schoolchildren. When children are pressured from morning to evening, it is very annoying, and they begin to resist it.
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And they do the opposite.
This does not only apply to children. During a trip to Europe, the guide told us that the most ugly behavior abroad was demonstrated by German men. They are so tired of pedantically following all the laws in their country that, crossing its borders, some almost lose their human appearance.
WHERE DOES THE NEED FOR SMOKING COME FROM?
Inferiority complex
To understand the mechanisms of the emergence of the need to smoke in children, one must recall the very first months of schooling. When you, "first grader", understand little and even less thinking, sit motionless for 45 minutes in the classroom. Draw sticks and letters in your notebook. You are reading a textbook in warehouses. Add and subtract numbers.
And you constantly feel your inferiority in front of the teacher, in front of older students, in front of incomprehensible disciplines that are taught to you.
A lesson that lasts 45 minutes is long and tiring for you.
And at the long-awaited break, you go to the toilet and see a "cool" fourth-grader who, running there, pulls out of his pockets a box of matches (to which your parents won't let you even close), pulls out a half-smoked cigarette butt (found by this guy somewhere in the gateway), or a cigarette stolen from his father and starts smoking.
- “Everything…, everything…” - this “cool” schoolboy utters for show in front of the first graders. - "I urgently need to smoke … Already 45 minutes have passed, and I have not a single cigarette in my mouth …".
And all the first-graders, with their mouths open, look with envy at this "tough" guy, considering him an adult, on the primitive basis that he cannot live 45 minutes without smoking.
And quite a few of the first-graders also dream of becoming the same "cool". They are not yet able to notice the wretchedness of his vocabulary (flavored with obscene words), his sloppy appearance and dirty shoes. They do not see that he is a "weakling" physically, and will never be able to successfully prove himself in sports. They do not realize that not a single pretty girl will ever approach such a primitive person, and, moreover, will want to make friends with him.
At this moment they have one main criterion - smoking … This means adulthood, freedom, "coolness".
The effect of novelty. "False authorities". The "novelty effect" is triggered when you date a guy who is very different from you and others around you. And also "false authority", when, contrary to all the warnings of mom, you are attracted by this unusual person, and you want to be like him.
Probably, the same happens with first-graders, who saw a cigarette in the hands of some fourteen-year-old schoolgirl, with their eyes down and in a short (Zadornov would say - "to the most" nowhere ") skirt.
Everything … All the thoughts in my head from delight and even envy for this "brave", "adult" and "tough" girl often outweigh everything else. And the cigarette in her hand becomes your dream …
In ten years, each of the former first-graders will learn to discern the ostentatiousness, deceit and depravity of this girl.
If you take a survey of smokers, and find out where and when they had their first desire to smoke in their lives, many people will point to the first years of schooling. It turns out that one of the first reasons for the craving of schoolchildren to smoke is "toilet romance", with its "false leaders" in school, the behavior of which children seek to reproduce in order to seem older and "cooler".
This "toilet romance" will manifest itself until the fourth grade, when already your generation of schoolchildren and schoolgirls will steal cigarettes from their parents and you, in turn, will "show off" in front of first-graders, posing as "cool".
Research by scientists has revealed a list of the main reasons leading children to smoking [1]:
- desire for "adulthood" (children willingly go to any step that can bring them closer to adulthood, and are proud of any of them);
- the desire to gain confidence through the image of "with a cigarette";
- imitation of their older friends or authorities: children among other children (for example, at school) become more vulnerable to starting smoking, mainly at the age of 8-10;
- psychological inability of the child to refuse in case of an offer to smoke;
- the urge to experiment (trials and experiments are part of the normal learning process, but children do not take into account that nicotine delays this "experiment") and the attraction of curiosity (about 25% of 6-10 year old children start smoking for this reason);
- smoking in movies provokes the desire to smoke (especially for girls) and creates the illusion of easy quitting of this habit;
- teenage girls, high school students may start smoking because of the desire to lose weight or because of the desire to attract male attention, considering it "a beautiful and passionate habit that demonstrates, in addition, independence";
- too great a possibility of observing smoking people, starting from an early age (even while walking in a wheelchair), putting this into consciousness as a usual possible action;
- lack of understanding of the seriousness of the consequences of smoking;
- family conflict situation;
- aggressiveness, participation in fights and vandalism.
Herd instinct
For a long time Soviet pedagogy relied too thoughtlessly on the ideological, partisan and conscientiousness of young people. Forgetting that behavior in young children is a lot like animal behavior. And 70-80% are conditioned by reflexes (food, defensive, orienting, etc.), as well as instincts (self-preservation instinct, sexual, herd instinct, etc.). And there is nowhere to get away from … You just have to take into account all these subconscious mechanisms of the child's behavior.
Soviet pedagogy does not use the term “herd instinct”, but prefers to use the term “collective”. But when we watch from the window what a group of drunken graduates do at the end of school, the term "herd" often fits much better.
Foreign psychologists argue that a person in this “herd” behaves more primitively, is prone to extreme group actions, and does not give an account of his actions. Therefore, the selection of the environment for the child, the team where he will spend his free time, and from where he will choose authorities for himself - this is the most important thing in family and school pedagogy.
Age stages of child development
Psychologists have identified the most significant stages in the development of a child from 6 to 16 years old. If in the first grade a child has a need to "be like everyone else" and quickly become an adult, then by the fourth grade the need for gaining authority and recognition from comrades manifests itself.
It was during this period that the teenager departs from the interests of the family and more significant "luminaries" appear in him. And to assert itself in the eyes of these "luminaries" ("to be cool"), to enter their closest social circle, becomes the next need of a teenager. It will be a disaster for the family if the guy asserts himself in the alley by smoking, swear words, drunkenness, fights; and the girl with short skirts, booze and vulgar behavior [2].
Summarizing the above material, we can draw some preliminary conclusions: the reason for the antisocial behavior of primary schoolchildren and smoking is the awareness of their inferiority and the inability to assert themselves. And also the appearance in the life of a student of extraordinary personalities (attracting attention), and who in the life of a child can become "false authorities". The transition to the formation of stable negative habits (smoking, obscene language, aggressive behavior, etc.) is coming to an end in the group of the same adolescents, deprived of supervision on the street.
WAYS OF POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS OF SCHOOLS
The only opportunity in this difficult age period for a child and teenager to assert themselves beautifully is sports. Nowadays there are many sports schools and sports where a teenager can show his physical abilities and become a winner. It did not work out in one kind of sports activity - there are other kinds of sports. And numerous competitions for children and girls of this age, up to the Youth Olympic Games [3].
Moreover, the coach must manipulate the composition of the relay races and teams in such a way that each of his students can feel the ecstasy of his own victory, albeit a small one. It is the child's self-affirmation in training and competition that will motivate him to go in for sports.
Parents do not think that by sending your child to a free sports school once, you have solved all the problems with your child for all occasions. We will need "cash infusions" to purchase equipment (tracksuits, shoes), equipment (hockey ammunition for hockey, ski ammunition for skiing, etc.), to finance travel to other cities to participate in various competitions.
One of my former students went to Poland to give his son an experience of performing abroad. And at this sailing regatta I bought him sails and a mast.
When I found out how much he had to pay, I was shocked.
- "Well what to do" - he said. - “I took out a loan. If I don’t buy a mast and a sail for my son now, there will be a loss of the domestic Russian competition and … then I can no longer go in for sailing.
"I'd rather get into debt than my son becomes an alcoholic or drug addict."
It should be noted that after a while children often lose interest in sports activities. Monotonous training work over several years can get bored by the child.
A very interesting way of introducing children to sports, making it diverse, was demonstrated (back in Soviet times) by the coaches of the GDR:
The first year of classes is swimming.
The second year is gymnastics (for girls it can be rhythmic gymnastics).
The third year is sports games.
The fourth year of classes is training in the chosen sport, where the child can show high results. The schoolboy has been engaged in physical exercises for three years, has mastered swimming, gymnastics, sports games. Learned personal hygiene and rehabilitation. And he can quite professionally engage in the type of activity to which he is predisposed, and where he immediately has a higher probability of showing high sports results (compared to his peers).
But does a young athlete, who is shown on TV in sports news, need to look for cigarette butts and showly smoke them in the toilet in full view of first-graders? Or swearing obscenely and spitting savoryly every few minutes?
Not!!! Athletes don't do this …
There are many sports schools and sports in every city, where a child, and then a teenager, can show his physical, technical, psychological capabilities and become a leader. Satisfy your natural need for success in sports and become an authority among peers.
The only opportunity in this difficult age period for a child and teenager to assert themselves beautifully is sports. Nowadays there are many sports schools and sports where a teenager can show his physical abilities and become a winner. It did not work out in one kind of sports activity - there are other kinds of sports. And numerous competitions for children and girls of this age, up to the Youth Olympic Games [3].
Moreover, the coach must manipulate the composition of the relay races and teams in such a way that each of his students can feel the ecstasy of his own victory, albeit a small one. It is the child's self-affirmation in training and competition that will motivate him to go in for sports.
Parents do not think that by sending your child to a free sports school once, you have solved all the problems with your child for all occasions. We will need "cash infusions" to purchase equipment (tracksuits, shoes), equipment (hockey ammunition for hockey, ski ammunition for skiing, etc.), to finance travel to other cities to participate in various competitions.
One of my former students went to Poland to give his son an experience of performing abroad. And at this sailing regatta I bought him sails and a mast.
When I found out how much he had to pay, I was shocked.
- "Well what to do" - he said. - “I took out a loan. If I don’t buy a mast and a sail for my son now, there will be a loss of the domestic Russian competition and … then I can no longer go in for sailing.
"I'd rather get into debt than my son becomes an alcoholic or drug addict."
It should be noted that after a while children often lose interest in sports activities. Monotonous training work over several years can get bored by the child.
A very interesting way of introducing children to sports, making it diverse, was demonstrated (back in Soviet times) by the coaches of the GDR:
The first year of classes is swimming.
The second year is gymnastics (for girls it can be rhythmic gymnastics).
The third year is sports games.
The fourth year of classes is training in the chosen sport, where the child can show high results. The schoolboy has been engaged in physical exercises for three years, has mastered swimming, gymnastics, sports games. Learned personal hygiene and rehabilitation. And he can quite professionally engage in the type of activity to which he is predisposed, and where he immediately has a higher probability of showing high sports results (compared to his peers).
But does a young athlete, who is shown on TV in sports news, need to look for cigarette butts and showly smoke them in the toilet in full view of first-graders? Or swearing obscenely and spitting savoryly every few minutes?
Not!!! Athletes don't do this …
There are many sports schools and sports in every city, where a child, and then a teenager, can show his physical, technical, psychological capabilities and become a leader. Satisfy your natural need for success in sports (Fig. 3) and become an authority among peers.
Literature
Why does a child smoke? URL:
Tomilin Konstantin Age stages of personality development // Alternative view. - URL:
Tomilin Konstantin Crises in life // Alternative view. - URL:
Author: Konstantin Tomilin