They say kids grow up too quickly now.

Last week’s news of a girl of 12 giving birth was a jaw-dropping lesson for all parents of secondary school children.

This week’s news to make them uncomfortable?

Well, it turns out a boy of nine is a smoker

Yep, at break he has a Double Decker, a game of tig and a fag.

I guess the first question is whether we are still in the 19th century and this boy is an urchin slurping gin and picking pockets.

It appears not.

Apparently our young chum started on the cigs to fit in with his friends.

I hope they were slightly older than he.

The youngster reported feeling breathless and then realised his pocket money wouldn’t stretch to feeding his habit.

So what did he do?

Pilfer them from someone else, start stealing from shops?

No, he rang the stop smoking helpline in Shropshire.

Fair play to the young man. He may be naive for starting but it appears his head is screwed on when it comes to stopping.

However, having packed in the snout by the time you start secondary school sets the bar high for teenage rebellion.

I imagine he’ll have knocked the booze on the head by the time he enters his teens and will be a reformed gambler by the time he sits his GCSEs.

And when he can do it all? It’ll all be a little bit old hat.