Daily Mail (UK) photos: Britney's kid plays with her pack of Marlboro Lights while mommy puffs away

[Amerigo Vespucci]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1039754/Outrage-Britney-Spears-toddler-plays-cigarettes-smoking-singer-watches-on.html

Outrage as Britney Spears' toddler plays with cigarettes as smoking singer watches on

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:56 PM on 30th July 2008

Britney Spears' parenting skills have come under fire yet again after photographs emerged showing the star smoking in front of her son as he plays with a packet of cigarettes.

The singer, branded 'Puff Mommy' by the American press, eventually takes the Marlboro Lights and a lighter from the two-year-old's hands, but continues to subject him to second-hand smoke.

Health experts have criticised Britney's 'shocking' behaviour, calling her a 'poor role model' for her children.

It comes a week after Britney officially agreed to give her ex-husband Kevin Federline sole custody of the couple's two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden, 1.

She is currently allowed two visits and one overnight per week in the settlement.

[Fran Kubelik]

1. That is one incredibly cute little boy.

;)

[GreenPartyVoter]

35. Sure is! My youngest looked a little like that.

[bertha katzenengel]

2. I played w/ cigarette packs too when i was a kid . . .

. . . never took a puff.

And my parents were shit. (I draw no parallel.)

[Writer]

3. Did she actually pull that carton away from her child?

It looks like she reached over to do just that.

[SeaLyons]

4. Well, at least it looks like she's taking the pack

away from him in one of the pics. What a darling little boy.

[Midlodemocrat]

5. This happens all the time in households where someone smokes

and a toddler lives. I don't think there is a need to excoriate her for this. I wish she'd quit though. Bad for her, bad for the kids.

[Fran Kubelik]

15. You're right.

I grew up in a smoking household. Other than asthma, I wasn't horribly maimed. I should put it all in perspective.

[Midlodemocrat]

17. I did, too.

And, thankfully, not one of the five of us has any lasting health conditions as a result. I think we were all so turned off by it, that we never started.

My mom quit after her first heart attack, but it was too late by that point; the damage had been done.

I just HATE seeing young folks pick up the habit. So many of TM's friends smoke and they have no idea the health risk they're taking. The addictive powers of nicotine are second only to heroin IMHO.

[bikebloke]

39. I grew up in a smoking household, too.

Then as a teenager, I took one puff. My mouth tasted so filthy, dirty, my smoking career ended on the spot. Good thing. All the smokers in my family died early from smoking induced cancer.

[harmonicon]

55. oh, I don't think that's true

I've tried both, and it's not heroin that I need every few hours at least to feel normal. I'd say that nicotine is far more addictive.

[Gormy Cuss]

21. She's also smoking outside, not in the car or other enclosed space

and she does take away the cig paraphernalia. If this is the worst example of her parenting these days I'd say she has improved quite a bit. I too think it would be better for her and the kids if she quit, but that's up to Spears.

[Midlodemocrat]

23. Yup. It's not crack fer cyin' out loud.

and, I wish she'd quit, but I believe smoking is absolutely ubiquitous in Hollywood. I can't remember a time that I saw a pic of someone who wasn't holding a cigarette.

[KitchenWitch]

6. Meanwhile, Karl Rove has yet to be arrested.

[ScreamingMeemie]

9. Thank you.

I mean, seriously... I hope none of the stunned submit their children to being outdoors while cars are driving around. :eyes:

[Phillycat]

7. Look at his curious little face.

It's a perfect illustration of mimicking. He's watching her smoke, reaching for the pack, ready to do what mommy does.

Sad.

[bertha katzenengel]

8. remember those old commercials "like father, like son" -- ?

[Phillycat]

10. I don't. But my mom smoked and I did too, for years and years.

I'm not saying everyone with smoking parents will smoke themselves. But you're much more likely to.

[Midlodemocrat]

12. My mom smoked. It's what killed her.

None of the five of us do. Never did. I think we were just so turned off by it growing up with it.

[Phillycat]

13. I was too. Completely turned off.

Until the day I started smoking. As I said, not every child of a smoker becomes a smoker. But kids are much more likely to smoke if they have a smoking parent.

[LeftyMom]

20. Both of my maternal grandparents were killed by smoking, and my mom and aunt STILL smoke.

:(

Between them my Mom and Stepdad smoked seven or eight packs a day. :wow:

I don't smoke. I was an occasional social smoker as a teenager, but gave it up by the time I was 19.

[RebelOne]

25. My mother smoked and died of lung cancer.

My father smoked and died of complications of emphysema. I am still smoking.

[KitchenWitch]

14. both my parents used to smoke. I also used to smoke.

I quit before my son was born. (I was three weeks pregnant when I quit, did not know I was PG I just wanted to quit)

Thankfully neither of my children have ever seen me smoke.

My son's dad smokes, and my son, who is 17, really hates that he smokes.

[ScreamingMeemie]

16. It's funny because neither of my parents ever smoked and yet all

3 of us kids did at one point or another. We used to blame them for the stress. :)

[KitchenWitch]

18. Rebellion!

:D

I remember accidentally running into burning cigarettes as a kid (bouncing around, etc). I remember how painful that was, and am glad my children never bumped into my burning cigarettes.

[Midlodemocrat]

19. OT. How is your mom?

I read in another thread that she was hospitalized. I hope it's nothing serious. :hug:

[ScreamingMeemie]

24. Oh no, that wasn't my mom I was talking about.

I was telling a judgemental person who felt the parents of the baby killed by the puppy weren't acting properly, as grieving parents "should be", that the mother of the infant has been hospitalized for trauma. My mom is alive, well, and hating me as always. :hug:

[Midlodemocrat]

26. Oh, good.

I guess?

Sorry about that, sweetie. I can only imagine how hard that must be for you.

That poor family who lost the baby. I don't see any evidence of neglect at all in the reports I've read. Just tragedy.

[ScreamingMeemie]

29. A very sad story...

And to think there are those who would tell me I "take it too personally". Good old DU. :hi:

[MrScorpio]

11. I grew up in a house of smokers when I was young

It's like a flashback to me

[Kutjara]

22. I'm not sure taking the pack away from the child is necessarily...

...the right thing to do either. It just creates a mystique around cigarettes that they are something "grown up" and "forbidden." Nothing gets a child more determined to do something than the idea it is "grown up."

My dad smoked like a chimney until I was 18 and left home (coincidence? hmmm). He used to give me his cigarette packs to build play houses and other things with. In today's world, he'd no doubt be in jail for abuse.

Incidentally, I never took up smoking, largely because I hated the way our house always stank and the fact my father's fingers were bright yellow.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

34. The pic where she's taking them from him looks like he's got the lighter too...

Definitely a good idea to take it from him.

A friend visited our house once, and while smoking on the front porch, my young son came out and asked if he could try. I think my friend felt embarrassed by it...especially when I explained to my son that it was very bad for his health, and was responsible for the deaths of his grandmother and grandfather.

[Kutjara]

36. Definitely the lighter has to go. Kids need to learn not to play...

...with fire. If the ciggies can be taken away in the larger context of "things that burn and can hurt you," that's probably a good way of diffusing the mystique.

It was good that you explained the dangers of smoking to your son, but I wonder if such messages really get through to children. They are, after all, invulnerable and immortal. ;)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

42. Depends on the kid, I think...

It certainly didn't work with my older son, despite the fact that he knew both the grandparents who died, and knew that they would have lived much longer if they hadn't smoked. My younger boy is an exceptionally cautious child. I may be wrong about him, of course; but I'll be really surprised if he goes down that road.

[Fire Walk With Me]

27. This is definitely a call for change to all who act inappropriately in front of children.

[RadiationTherapy]

33. Hilarious! nt

[Fire Walk With Me]

47. Did you get the implied impossibility and the sarcasm in my post?

Regarding people in general? :)

[RadiationTherapy]

48. It was funny either way, but I wasn't too too sure you were sarcastic! nt.

[philosophie_en_rose]

28. He grabbed something while she wasn't looking and she took it away.

:shrug:

[SacredCow]

30. Hardly shocking...

Kid sees his mom smoking and he's curious about it. I guarantee you it happens hundreds, if not thousands of times per day in the US.

Seriously, Britney could donate all of her assets to <insert any charity here> and the media would find some way to make it "shocking" and "scandalous." At the risk of sounding like an internet meme... Leave Britney alone! Or more appropos- Nothing left to see here- move on....

[LostInAnomie]

31. So what? Little kids are curious and grabby.

It's not like she had him light one up for her. She took it away, and the incident was over.

I think it's silly how much of a taboo and stigma has been built up around smoking that if a child is anywhere within 5 miles of where it takes place it becomes an incident.

[PBS Poll-435]

32. On a side note--------

Daaaayum. She's back!

[Writer]

41. She does look very good, and that's good to see that she's taking care of herself.

If she's getting off of drug use, I'd prefer that she smoke cigarettes than smoke crack cocaine. I do hope that she's getting her life back together. This focus on her as a bad mother is an exceptionally sexist attack on young, attractive, successful women. She's only permitted to be a virgin or a whore, but nothing in between.

[Orrex]

51. Well...

She's made some moves that would have raised eyebrows if any young mother had tried them, successful or not. Driving with young Sean Preston on he lap, for instance, was inexcusable.


Additionally, she has profited hugely from her virgin/whore dichotomy, so she'd have little credibility if she were to complain about it now. Also, if/when she drags her career out of its current downward spiral, she be recast either as a phoenix or some other resurrected martyr, so it's all good.

[Writer]

53. But here's how it works...

as a performer, we admire her when she dances in sexy clothing.

As a mother she's supposed to cover herself up and not do anything provocative.

That's how the virgin-whore complex works. Either she's a sex-object or she's a mother. She can't be a sexy mother, or an unsexy performer. We scrutinize her every move to make sure she stays in line - for our benefit more than for her or her children's.

[Orrex]

54. Oh, that.

Hey, she can dress how she wants, mother or not. Anyone who says that "sexy" ends at conception is a fool. So (for me at least) her sexuality is irrelevant here. And for that matter, these photos are no big deal, either. My mother smoked like like a paper mill for my entire childhood; whatever her maternal failings might be, I don't number her nicotine habit among them. So let Britney light up if she wants to, and props to her for taking the cigarettes away from Sean Preston.

But when she engages in wildly reckless behavior (such as the aformentioned placement of the baby while driving), then she makes her maternal skills fair game for criticism, just as any young parent should be criticized for such a preposterously careless action.

[Iggo]

37. "Join the un-hooked generation."

And now, back to The Courtship Of Eddie's Father.

[mduffy31]

38. Like this doesn't happen everyday in America

Maybe not with the mommy in a bikini, but this happens everyday in America. Seriously leave her alone.

[FloridaJudy]

40. She's *outside* for crying out loud!

And she's not blowing smoke at the kid. Sheesh, people: give the woman a break. I'm no fan, but could any of us stand up to that kind of constant scrutiny?

Really cute kid, BTW. I hope the press give him a chance to grow up without this kind of pressure.

[sniffa]

43. McCain should have used these photos in his new ad

Stupid, angry, senile McCain. :shakeshead:

[LisaM]

44. My parents and grandparents all smoked around us

We even used to get candy cigarettes and we chose our future brands when we were little (mine were going to be Winstons). I remember having the conversation with 1gobluedem, about what kind of cigarettes we were going to smoke when we grew up. We just picked whichever was the choice of our favorite adult - my grandmother smoked Winstons - we assumed that all adults smoked. I want to say that 1gobluedem chose Parliaments because of an aunt who did. However, the reason I don't know is that NONE OF US EVER TOOK UP SMOKING!

Go figure, eh?

BTW, do we know if K-Fed smokes around them? Do they follow his every move? I'm not necessarily defending Brittney here, but I don't see K-Fed's every move being chased. He presumably just has a better nanny.

[mitchum]

45. But smoking is going to damage her singing voice!

Wait a minute...nevermind

[Alexander]

46. They can just use pitch correction.

Same as usual.

[Orrex]

50. Is that where you pour hot roofing tar down her throat?

That just might work!

[Genevieve]

49. That little boy has the most adorable face I've ever seen.

[noamnety]

52. The bigger problem

is the paparazzi stalking a child. Did the daily mail express any outrage over that?

[Fox Mulder]

56. Oh she's attractive.

NOT.