Good parenting takes a lot of effort, and sometimes, some sacrifices will need to be made for the children’s sake. And a dad in Virginia made the big decision of giving up something of his so his 6-year-old son could have a better example to live by. The boy had just finished taking a shower and was brushing his teeth when he thought it would be fun to copy one of his dad’s favorite habits: smoking and vaping. Yet, this simple joke for the boy broke his parent’s heart.
“Look dad, I’m just like you!” the 6-year-old told his father, pretending the steam from the shower was vapor coming out of his toothbrush. At that moment, the dad deeply regretted his choice to ever smoke or vape, not just around his family, but even on his own. “I thought I was slick, careful, discreet. I thought he didn’t know,” remarked the parent, likely thinking his son was too young to understand the concept of smoking. But once the boy made the joke in the bathroom, the Virginia dad was done with his habit and threw his cigarettes and vaping device into the trash can.
“God, I’m pretty upset with myself and not realizing how much I was not only destroying my own health, but, also just how much my son knows about my bad habits. I want to be healthier for myself, for him, and for our family’s future.”
Quitting Was Only the First Step for the Virginia Dad’s Journey
The father shared his triumphant moment of giving up vaping and smoking on r/mildlyinfuriating, featuring a photo of the cigarettes and device sitting in the garbage. “Congratulations on Day 1. Hope to see an update to reaching Day 30,” cheered a commenter, with thousands of others upvoting in support. Understandably, this is just the first step in breaking his addiction. While many congratulated the father on his sacrifice, they warned him to take extra care to ensure he doesn’t relapse. “Do yourself a favor and crush those cigs. From experience the first time I tried to quit smoking I threw half a pack away. Like 6 hours in I went digging through the trash for those last cigs,” suggested a top commenter.
Others chimed in with recommendations. “Second this, you gotta make sure you can’t go back. I took my vape apart, didn’t have the willpower to get rid of anything, but the amount of effort it took to reassemble it gave me enough time to come to my senses,” says one Redditor. As one person put it, throwing the vape and cigarettes is one thing, but the decision to quit smoking and vaping is an ongoing choice that the dad must make day after day. Hopefully, his son follows his dad’s example to be healthier and avoid habits that cause a major health risk.
