Hi Sherrie,
Good comment.  You're right - books that simply talk about smoking and the
affects of smoking won't address the other important issues for young women
- such as the need to be attractive to the opposite sex.  I think that I
made the common error of putting on my tobacco hat, jumping to the task at
hand and blocking out other considerations.
I was hoping that there would be books that talk about these issues in
relation to tobacco - ones that tie in self esteem, body image and tobacco
(or substance abuse).  Maybe this is a "naive wish list".
I would appreciate any suggestions that you may have for books that do have
strong women heroes that have success.  It is important to include these in
the grand list of books that deal with "lifestyle" as a whole.
It is interesting how easy it is "miss the boat" when we are responsible for
one piece of the larger puzzle.  Our physical activity person brings back
suggestions for books that talk about active living; our nutritionist brings
back ones for healthy eating and body image, and I bring back things that
talk about tobacco - what happens to the excellent books that don't fit into
these narrow boxes but may be more effective at fostering a healthy message
and self esteem?  Please let me know of these books too.  Perhaps it would
have been more appropriate to have asked the people working on this project
to simply find children's literature that would be appropriate to suggest to
our local schools as ones that promote "health" - and then to combine and
note duplication - instead of trying to package them up.
Thanks for your insight and honesty,
Tricia

>Hi Tricia,
>
>Your message has been on my mind for a few days, I am not sure how to get
>at the issues it raises for me, but I will give it a try.
>
>I am not sure if you are going about this the right way, especially in
>light of the recent study on why young women are smoking.  Is a book on
>smoking and its affects going to address the issues of the need of young
>women to be attractive to the opposite sex?  Or are books that have strong
>women heroes that have success with their lives going to have more of an
>overall impact on the choices that are made?
>
>Just a thought,
>
>S
>Sherrie Tingley
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
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Tricia Wilkerson, Health Promoter
Huron County Health Unit
R.R. #5 Clinton, ON  N0M 1L0
519-482-3416
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