Warbler said:

keep in mind, twenty years ago, we did not know as much about second hand smoke as we do today.

50 years ago - maybe. 20 years ago - people knew. My mother chose to ignore it, just as she did her doctor's advice to not smoke when she was pregnant with us. More times than I can count, I heard her say through the years when recanting her doctor's advice in the 60s - "he warned me not to smoke while I was pregnant - but I did anyway - and you turned out fine".

That was the cavalier attitude I was referring to earlier. Ignore the advice, hope for the best, smile when mentioning she was right and there was nothing to worry about. I never felt terribly sorry for her when she was diagnosed. She'd known the risks for decades and she'd been warned and asked to quit a hundred times over. Instead, she openly ignored the risks and the requests. Her cancer was self-inflicted. But I've always had an issue with her making that same decision for me.

That's why I spent my childhood & teenage years clearing the air in my bedroom. I had to do whatever I could. I did it for the smell, but the air was cleaner by default. I like to think it helped. At least I hope it did.