Perhaps this comes up as unpopular. On a nice day like today, it’s indeed great to take the kids out and enjoy some playground time and perhaps have a coffee at a terrace.

It was sad that we had to sit in the cafe [facing the playground] with so many kids and quite a lot of smoking. It killed the joy we went out to get.

How can people do this when they see so many kids inhaling their smoke in front of them?

Just a rant, down vote if you want. It simply is not okay.

EDIT: Thank you all for your outpouring of thoughts and arguments. I am glad to see that. Meanwhile, someone pointed me to our government’s activity on this.

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2022/12/02/federal-government-announces-raft-of-measures-to-cut-the-number/

They are considering to do this from 2025 apparently – am not sure why they need to wait that long though!

42 comments

  3. Those clouds of stinking smoke always kill the mood when sitting outside. All smoking in and near restaurants and cafes should be banned imo.

  4. Today I was leaving a quite big shop and some guy couldn’t wait those extra steps and lighted one few meters still inside the main hall, where all the air gets through the very wide door IN.

  5. I had a similar conversation last year with some acquaintances about smoking while waiting in line at an amusement park (plopsa coo, so specifically catered to smaller kids). The queus were 5 minutes long, why can’t you wait to smoke a cigarette until you’re off the attraction ( or before you que).

    Main consensus was that I expected too much from other people, I just thought it was basic decency.

  6. That was the biggest shock for me when I moved to Belgium. People holding a child in one hand and sigarette in the other. People smoking right to their baby carriage. People smoking on playgrounds.
    But hey, vivre et laisser vivre…

  8. dude if you ever want to start a petition. i’m on. i hate ppl that smoke around kids, public places, parks, outside of places for kids. ok you’re outside, but you’re in the fucking pathway, im still getting your ducking smoke.

    even when i go to delta hospital. seriously you see all these old people hooked to IVs having a smoke in the entrance. it’s like ok you’re dying and you’re just trying to die faster.

  9. I have a little hope that things will change. When I was first pregnant 5 years ago, I wrote to NMBS asking if they had any plans to ban or introduce non smoking sections on their platforms, as I was forced to breathe in passive smoke wherever I stood. They basically told me to go F myself, and look where we are now!
    However, it will definitely take a big cultural shift. My father in law went bewerk at me when I asked him not to smoke with my kids in the car, he doesn’t believe second hand smoke is dangerous

  12. Smoking around kids is a no-no.

    But you can ban it all you want, if I’m outside I’ll smoke when I want to. Public space or not. I don’t litter and I keep my distance from people. That should be enough

  13. People don’t care and never did, as simple as that. Remember we had to wear masks for covid and a lot of people wouldn’t even do that for each other. I’m a smoker, I do my best to not do it or at least take some distance when there’s kids or strangers nearby or anyone I know that doesn’t like it. Your statement is a problem yes but not something that can be solved, people are assholes, always have and always will be. All you can do is be a good parent and get your own kids away from the people with no common sense.

  14. On holiday in Europe at the moment. The amount of people smoking/vaping is stunning. Where they decide to do it is even more surprising. Almost lost my mind in Brugge when I saw smoking inside the station had only been banned at the start of the year. Insane stuff. To me at least. Then again in my country (Australia) it’s illegal to smoke in lots of places including children’s playgrounds and in the car (if there is somebody under 16 in the car as well)

  16. It’s pretty crazy, parks are always filled with smokers. You can’t go out on a run without running into a couple of clouds of smoke. Even track fields are filled by smokers. Once it hits six o’clock though you get the weed smokers. It really should be banned.

  17. I also hate all the people who smoke right at the entrance to a place. I lived a while in California and it was so nice to be able to enter or leave a store and not breath in the smoke.

  19. Nah, I totally agree. It’s extremely frustrating for so many reasons. A lot of people just don’t care. It really isn’t that hard to have your smoke without bothering other people with it. Also putting your cigarette butt in the bin is something a lot of smokers should try.

    If you’re a smoker, please put in some effort and help get rid of the bad image we smokers get, thanks.

  20. My 2 rules for smoking are:
    – not around kids
    – not around people who are eating (I hate that myself)

    I’m on the other side, I smoke and in the past my friends and I would smoke on a kids playground (it was little and most of the time there were no kids around). But once kids were playing we wouldn’t smoke there anymore and move to another location.

    Same with smoking on the streets, I try to keep my distance from other people and if I pass any kids I keep my sigaret in my hand till they’re gone.

  22. One time, my then 4yo, was playing with a 3yo at the park. The other kid went down and flopped like a fish. My mom instincts ran me to him and his mom cut me off almost there… cigarette in hand. She picked him halfway up and starts explaining to me that the little sprite was epileptic and having a seizure but it would be okay in a minute and she never stopped smoking the whole time. Baffling and disgusting. The burning cigarette still burning in my mind. Woof.

  23. I think smoking should be banned at bus stops too. I came back from the gym once and someone started smoking and I really felt like I was inhaling poison 🤧

  24. i get really sad when i sometimes see kids (probly 12-14 as there’s a middelbare school close to it, dunno, but that doesn’t matter, kids afterall) smoking cigarettes at the train station

    i don’t get it and never will

    made the damn mistake of smoking a cig at the age of 17 after all my classmates were smoking way before me but offered me one

    and then i was dumb and bought a pack

    since then, never quit smoking, well not really, vaping for a few years now but still with a ton of nicotine in it

    i kinda wish i never did, it’s a costly dependance

    then again i still try to be away from kids whenever i smoke or vape, mainly cause i don’t want em to start it but there’s also the embarassment factor to it, sort of, even if it is “normal”

  25. indeed smoke whatever you want at a party but don’t do it in front of kids. We all agree smoking cigarettes all the time is not worth it. We need those little gangsters to know.

  26. I had it one time where I left a shop and a while crowd of people were smoking right outside. I just held my breath while walking through it. You could see the smoke just hanging around.

  27. When i still smoked i would step away from the crowd the smoke. I’ve always tried to keep my kids away from that stuff.

  28. Not a smoker, but it honestly never bothered me whatsoever… even when it was still allowed in cafe’s and indoor places.

    I ‘get it’ I guess, but people are also getting less and less tolerant and more sensitive, clearly.

  29. Please, do a favour to yourself, do judge, do think whatever you believe is indeed the right thing to do, even attempt to fix it if you believe it’s feasible and have the energy for it BUT do not let it spoil YOUR mood. When you do this you get a second strike, the first being the actual smoke, and yet it is annoying, that you might not be able to do much about yet the worst is adding on top of that your negative feelings about it, being not just annoyance but maybe a sense of failed justice, helplessness, sadness (as you said), etc. I believe it’s important to be able to acknowledge it, yet, both the actual action and possibly your feelings about it, then let go of it. If you don’t … well it’s YOUR mood that’s being spoiled, definitely not the one of the proud smoker who is unfortunately enjoying their day.

    TL;DR: yes it sucks but hopefully it won’t suck for you to the point of not enjoying an otherwise beautiful day!

  30. People who smoke now , should be fully blamed if they develop lung cancer. And no subsidized aid should be provided.
    They should recieve aid, but should be paid out of own pocket.

    Everybody now, knows their is a clear connection between smoking and heart problems, cva, lung cancer.

    I’m pretty sure, when our social care becomes unplayable, the politics will try to in cooperate it in the future.

  32. Probably my number one annoyance when going out to have a drink. Dad of 2 young kids (2yo and 2mo), so we are usually out during the day, people just lighting up a smoke directly next to our baby carriage has caused us to move bars quite a few times.

    Sure, it is allowed, but it bothers me a lot.

  34. It’s not only about children. The thing is as long as its permitted to smoke outside, when the weather is good, smokers are on the terraces. If you, as a non smoker, want to enjoy a drink, you have to choose. Being on the terrace with a lot of cigarettes smoke, or drink inside in the dark. I hope soon it will be forbidden to smoke everywhere outside. Like in some countries. Now it’s forbidden to smoke on peers of the train station. There are still people smoking there, but it’s a good move from the sncb. People smoking don’t realise how many people smell the smoke around them, even many meters from them… And they don’t care too

  35. I feel your pain, its one of the main reasons I hate going to Pairi Daiza. Soo many smokers, right at eye level of most kids and animals.

  36. I loath smokers. Turning the entire publick space into one giant ashtray. Every time I work in my front garden I find sigaret butts, packagings and/or cellophane wrappers. Every week I´m forced to smoke a sigaret or two from secondhand and sidestream smoke and 3de hand residue transfer. Not even inside your home you are save from this. Then you have to keep in mind that the smoke is radioactive and stays that way for four months inside your body´s soft tissue because its a heavy metal. Then it turns into lead so now you got a mild lead intoxication. Then there are the other chemicals of which many are also highly carcinogenic. There is a reason that after the intense commercialisation of sigarrets in the 1920´s to men AND woman that there is a significant uptick in cancers and allergies. What do you think this will do to a child?

  38. I walk up to them and ask politely that they not smoke. This applies to e-cigs ( they still contain nicotine).

    Some will stop smoking, and others will come across as violent. I stand my ground.

    If this does not work, and I am able to, I video them, and find a park warden. This works in parks where smoking is disallowed in the children’s playgrounds. I would be happier if other parents took a stand as well.

  39. Smokers are selfish af, they don’t care about anyone but themselves. The world is their ashtray and they’re entitled to stink up every public spot regardless if it’s full of kids or not.

  40. As a smoker I can surely understand your point.
    I try not to smoke in front of kids, doesn’t always works but I try my best.
    Even when I go out with my wife and we sit on a terrace where they also serve food, I get up and smoke a bit further away. It’s simply a sign of respect towards another.
    Personally I even like getting up and take a break from socializing, even with my wife. It’s a 5min moment of mental rest.

    But I do not condemn smokers who are sitting outside and light up a cigarette.
    There is enough ventilation and it’s their right to do so.
    You cannot ask smokers to go outside in the Winter and go inside when it’s summer.

    Pro tip: if it bothers you, ask them, and here comes the key-word, friendly.
    When people ask me in a friendly way and even chit chat for a bit, I apologize and get up. Not a problem.
    But I realize not everyone would react the same way.

  41. Yeah, this is a regular occurence. Srsly wanna stomp some people for being so inconsiderate of others. We were stuck in queue in an amusement park, where you literally physically CANNOT GET AWAY, and then they start smoking right in front of you. Fucking assholes.

    What i do now, is pull out a large piece of clothing and start fanning it very obviously straight at them, so they get the hint.

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