Healthy Homes - Indoor Air Quality

October is National Home Indoor Air Quality & Awareness Month

Secondhand Smoke & Children's Health

Family Activity - Ideas for the Week

Monday

Adults: Take the Smoke-free Home Pledge! Pledge to keep your home smoke-free today by calling the Smoke-free Home Hotline at (800) 513-1157. Encourage other friends, relatives, or neighbors to do the same.

Children: Ask an adult about the health risks to children from secondhand smoke. Discuss what can be done in your community to protect children from secondhand smoke in the home.

Tuesday

Adults: Ask your pediatrician if s/he counsels parents about the health risks from secondhand smoke. Ask if you can put brochures in the waiting room. Ask if s/he would be willing to receive a copy of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Speaker’s Kit on secondhand smoke and/or speak to local community groups about secondhand smoke and children’s health.

Children: Draw a "No Smoking" sign (a cigarette in a circle with a line through it) or a sign that states "This is a Smoke-Free Home." Display the sign(s) in your room or play area.

Wednesday

Adults: Learn more about secondhand smoke at your library or by "surfing the web." Share the information with at least one other person.

Children: Look up "asthma" and "pneumonia" in the dictionary, an Encyclopedia, or on the World Wide Web. Think about how secondhand smoke can make these lung diseases worse.

Thursday

Adults: Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper explaining why secondhand smoke is hazardous to children’s health. Share what you are doing during Secondhand Smoke Action Week. Encourage people to take the Smoke-free Home Pledge.

Children: Ask your parents to print off this Activity Sheet (Word Search and Crossword Puzzle in a "printer-friendly" .pdf format). Have fun working at the puzzle - did you find all the words?

Friday

Adults: Volunteer to do a short program on secondhand smoke and children’s health at your church, local school, daycare center, or through a hospital or community service organization.

Children: Ask your parents to print off this Activity Sheet (Word Search and Crossword Puzzle in a "printer-friendly" .pdf format). Have fun working at the puzzle - did you solve the Crossword Puzzle?

Saturday

Adults: Contact a local TV station and ask them to air the EPA’s Secondhand Smoke PSA. If they don’t have a copy, volunteer to get them one.

Children: Make a list of reasons for not smoking. Work with a friend to see who can think of the longest list.

Sunday

Adults: Do not smoke inside today. Talk to children you know about smoking and secondhand smoke.

Children: Do you know someone who smokes? Ask them not to smoke inside today. Make a poster to illustrate the message: "If you can’t quit, smoke outside for your kids."

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