Passive smoking is documented to have a detrimental impact on the health of young children, especially during the first 5 years. Involuntary or secondhand smoking is a leading cause of numerous chronic diseases and in severe cases of mortality of children. The adverse impact of secondhand smoking poses a greater danger to children under the age of 5 as they have no control over their environment. The current study endeavors to explain and establish the casual link between parental smoking and the respiratory health of children under the age of 5 years. By employing a rigorous quantitative analysis, a statistically significant impact of mother’s and parental smoking upon the incidence of Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) is revealed. Children born to mothers who smoke have a higher probability of occurrence of ARI as compared to non-smoker mothers. The study did not find a statistically significant effect of father’s smoking on the incidence of ARI amongst children. Effective policies such as educating the parents-to-be regarding the harmful impact of smoking should be formulated to discourage smoking amongst parents and to protect the children from the negative effect of exposure to smoky environment.