So I'm going thru my Yahoo! hookahlovers group and I come across a post from a 13-year-old who says his parents have told him he can have his own hookah for his next birthday if he wants, and he's asking how healthy (or unhealthy) it is to smoke the hookah. Also wants to know if anyone makes a hookah with more than four hoses, apparently because four isn't enough for him...
I wrote a response in which I said that, first of all, the health question about the hookah is controversial -- some say it's less health hazardous than cigarettes, others say it isn't, but that regardless, he is much too young to be smoking and needs to wait a few years (and I was being generous with that estimation). Also pointed out rather mildly that apart from it being unwise for someone as young as he is to be smoking, it's also illegal. I didn't address the multiple hose question.
The thing that really got me about this is, no one else on the list said anything about it, and it's a list with over three hundred members. Even the moderator didn't speak up. (Then again, the moderator is himself only 17, so that could be the reason right there.)
He merely responded by re-asking his question about multiple-hose hookahs, and someone else helped him.
I'm childfree and would never call myself a master of parenting skills or anything -- far from it. But even I know better than to give a kid a hookah for his 14th birthday. What's the matter with these people?
Posted by Zathras at April 29, 2003 12:45 PMWell, nobody ever said that reproducing and having even "barely adequate" parenting skills were in the least bit linked. In fact, given the number of adults that are childfree because they wouldn't be able to care for a kid up to their own standards, coupled with the high number of negligent/abusive breeders...well, you can fill in the rest. :^/
Posted by: Moggy at April 29, 2003 05:08 PMA certain percentage of parents smoke crack, so the legality of it would not be an issue, and most of the smokers I know started when they were 13-15 years old. They just did it in secret.
Posted by: Matt at April 30, 2003 06:26 PMTrue...and the other thing that I have to wonder is: if 14 year olds are mature enough to be tried in court as an adult, and smoking a hookah is harmless enough that an I've been encouraged to do it despite being asthmatic, then what's so terrible about a 14 year old being given one if he feels that's what he truly wants?
It occured to me today -- the reason that nobody else spoke up on that list is because it would violate an unwritten NT rule. I've noticed that in the past: unless you are the unofficial leader (i.e. the person everyone looks up to, not necessarily the list owner/mod) it is against protocol to point out somebody (or their family) is making/considering a bad decision until the popular crowd has done so first. The "in" crowd usually is very nice to newbies at first, so they wouldn't be likely to bring up the angle that Parrish did, for fear of not being viewed as "cool" by the kid.
Posted by: Moggy at May 2, 2003 12:22 AMJust so nobody gets the wrong idea -- the only reason I'm aware of that "rule" is because I've been violating it regularly for 10 years to the point of being booted off quite a few groups entirely. I'm not saying that what Parrish did was bad, but that the NTs have a status-based social structure that doesn't fit his strong ethical beliefs. Personally, I prefer our way to theirs. :^)
Posted by: Moggy at May 2, 2003 12:33 AMCouple things on the smoking vs. courts comparison. The main thing is, my opposition to youth smoking isn't just because it's ideologically a bad idea for young people to smoke, although that's certainly a big part of it. Another thing is that the body is basically in a formative stage until the late teens to early twenties, meaning that there are certain things one shouldn't do to it until that time.
To greatly exaggerate the comparison: giving a shot of bourbon to a 12-month-old isn't unwise just because of his "emotional immaturity", it would be severely dangerous to his health. Smoking is like that, to a lesser degree.
Finally, as I pointed out in the original thread: the harmfulness of hookah smoking is controversial. It may be less harmful than cigarettes, it may not. Some have, indeed, encouraged you to try it, but others have been more cautious. Rob thinks it's a bad idea and says you shouldn't try it... for my own part, I'd like you to try it just so we could have something else to share together, but you'll notice I've been pretty hesitant whenever we talk about it.
Posted by: Zathras at May 2, 2003 09:24 AMPerhaps a less pungent health comparison: I had a roommate once who played the oboe. He told me that most oboe instructors would not take students below a certain age (about 13 or 14, iirc) because their lungs were not yet developed enough for them to play the oboe, which requires very strong, controlled breathing. To take up the oboe before that age, he said, could damage the lungs from the strain.
Posted by: Zathras at May 2, 2003 09:26 AMI never smoked mainly because nicotine is addictive (apart from disliking the odor), and I didn't want to become an 'addict'. I have enough trouble with my sugar addiction (overweight). Moggy's already hooked on Chai as it is :)
Posted by: Matt at May 2, 2003 12:31 PMDude, when ya gonna update yer blog?!?
Posted by: The Masked Tornado at May 12, 2003 10:26 PMI said UPDATE IT. Not clear it!!!!
Well, looks like I got a clear path on the front of the site to ice skate now.
Posted by: The rolling stone at May 13, 2003 12:44 AM