Parents can cheer on their kids at the soccer game – but lighting up a smoke to celebrate may be a thing of the past.

It’s a picture of health that could be coming to Barrie, as the city considers following Collingwood’s lead to ban smoking in parks, playgrounds and sports fields.

“It’s been almost six years since we passed our smoke-free bylaw and we decided playgrounds were an area where we wanted no smoking. It’s a high-use area for kids and whether it’s second-hand smoke or modelling behaviour by adults because children are impressionable, we decided to ban it,” said Collingwood Mayor Chris Carrier.

Those are the reasons Barrie’s municipal law enforcement manager Brenda Russell recommended restricting smoking to parking lots in city parks – after council looked initially at banning smoking within nine metres of entrances to city buildings. A year ago, city council asked staff to examine restricting smoking to designated areas.

Russell cited a Stanford University study which revealed “someone sitting or standing next to a smoker outdoors can breathe in wisps of smoke that are many times more concentrated than normal background pollution levels.”

She added the US Surgeon General revealed even brief exposure to second-hand smoke increases the number and severity of asthma attacks in children.

“I think most people will welcome a ban on smoking at all public facilities, not just because of the health effects the report addresses, but also because it’s a nuisance to walk through the smoke and the smell at our recreation centre entrances as well as having to look at discarded cigarette butts laying on the ground in our parks,” said Barrie’s Community Services Committee chairman Coun. John Brassard.

“This will go a long way in our efforts to promote Barrie as a healthy lifestyle community, not just to our residents but also to the tens of thousands of people who come here and take part in various sporting events throughout the year.”

Carrier said the healthy community message is key, and most parents would have little difficulty enforcing a ban.

“The really cool thing is adults will walk over to others and say, ‘You’re not allowed to smoke here.’ They say ‘get real’, and then they point to the signs – a quarter of which the town has replaced,” said Carrier.

“Most people will follow the rules, but there have been a couple of instances, very few, where people have called the police. We’re Canadians; we follow rules.”