Responses are described from 1806 parents of children in low-income areas of Auckland, New Zealand, who participated in a community-, school- and family based smoking-initiation questionnaire that explored their thinking around what factors could help protect their children from smoking initiation. The majority of respondents (80%) were either Pacific Island or Māori mothers and 25% were current smokers. Five main categories of suggested strategies for preventing smoking initiation were identified: building children’s knowledge of smoking risks; denormalising smoking; reducing access to tobacco; building children’s resilience; and health promotion activities. The most common suggestion was to educate children about smoking.
