There are some candid pictures on the ciggypiggy site that show a boy and his mom sitting across from each other at an outdoor cafe. What amazed me is the mom was puffing away as the boy was still eating! Even if this was outdoors, you rarely see this type of scene anymore. These candid pictures were taken in Germany which appears to be a smokers paradise compared to the U.S.Those pictures bring back fond memories of my youth. Whenever we went out to eat mom would light up the minute we sat down and would chain smoke until the food arrived. Often times she would light a cigarette seconds before the food was ready, I could sense that she was disapointed when this happened, I could tell she wanted to smoke more than she wanted to eat.
Mom would finish eating quicker than me, probably because she wanted to smoke. She never waited for me to finish eating. When she pulled out a cigarette I knew the rest of my meal wouldn't be the same, it would be ruined in a sense. At the same time I felt a sense of comfort when she lit up and her smoke enveloped the table. I liked that her desire to smoke took precedent over my comfort. It seemed like the natural order of things Sometimes she would tell me to finish my meal, as I did the smell of her smoke overtook the smell of the food.
Today they might call this child abuse. Yet I would have been horrified if they took me away from my mother to transfer me to a smoke free enviornment. Same thing with the German boy in the picture, it was obvious he was enjoying lunch with his mom, he wasn't waving away her smoke or anything. This should not be considered "child abuse".
