Parenting Your Teens Podcast: Episode 6
What Parent’s Can Do To Address Teen Vaping.
Practical solutions for your teen’s challenges.
Hi. Welcome to the Parenting Your Teens podcast, like we do every time I'm going to take a question that was submitted by a listener or a viewer at home, and I'm going to answer it so that you listening have real practical solutions to address some issue that you're facing in your teen.
Is your teen vaping?
So today's topic or question is a pretty serious question, this question is, "What do I do if I have found that my teen is vaping?" I think this is an epidemic; vaping across the country is probably outside of smoking weed, the biggest issue that parents are facing as far as substance use. It's so bad that a recent study said that about 60 to 70% of teenagers have vaped at some point in the last year. I mean, that's just scary.
Not only that, but there was a recent report saying that out of the top 5 most addictive drugs in the world, that number 3 is nicotine, now that study was done worldwide so the delivery system was actually cigarettes. Now cigarettes have a 3 to 10 milligram per, as far as their dosing. Kids now are hitting 50 milligram juices and salts in each vape hit that they're taking, which to me is insane and really I think increases that level of addiction, at least as far as the speed with which kids get addicted.
Why do teens vape?
So you'll hear the rationale, "It calms me down, I'm having anxiety and it relaxes me. I'm so stressed out all the time." This just isn't true, it's the teen culture, they share it all with each other, "Hey, if you get caught vaping, tell your parent this, tell your dad, tell your mom, they'll get off your back because everybody's going to feel sorry for you." So I know a lot of parents just don't buy that anyways, so good for you. But a lot do, because they really have a genuine concern for their kids which obviously you would, and if you hear that they're struggling in a particular way, then you want to make sure that they're going to be okay.
So obviously when it comes to vaping we want a zero tolerance policy. If you find anything in the house, go ahead and just throw it out. Make sure you're always addressing it directly with your youth, and let them know that you're aware of what they're doing.
Also I would pay attention to friends. You're not going to be able to stop them from hanging out with kids or from being exposed to these things, but you can least be aware of who they're with and what they're doing and try to run some sort of interference with the parents of these other kids.
How are teens getting vaping devices?
Now the hardest part is how these kids are getting it. Now they're getting gift cards and they're going on eBay and they're ordering them to other parents' house who are completely permissive about this stuff. They're ordering it to the Amazon lockers that they have in safe ways and different gas stations around different towns across the country. So it's so readily available. They can get it at any time, in any way they want.
What I would say to a parent is if you're approaching it from the health-related standpoint, like I said, kids always think they know better, they're going to shut you down. I would just talk to them, and I do talk to them in my practice like this, I say, "Look, if you're going to vape, you better be committed that this is a lifelong choice, because once you're addicted, the likelihood of stopping nicotine is very, very low." I think we've all known people that have smoked cigarettes and have tried over the years to stop and they just don't seem to be able to kick the habit.
So there's not a lot of research around the long-term health effects of just vaping nicotine, but they are starting to see that there's some popcorn lung that's starting to show up because of the delivery system, and so it's embedding itself in lungs and it's affecting breathing at least short-term, so I think we're going to see obviously a lot more of those long-term health issues as time goes on.
Should you drug test your teen?
What I would also recommend is drug testing. There's drug tests that tests for nicotine, it seems a little bit extreme, but again, it's stopping the kid from going down that path of pretty extreme and potentially severe health-related consequences from vaping long-term.
So again, there's not a whole lot you can do as far as the rationale to talk to a kid and say, "Look, this is so bad for you, it's going to kill you, don't you know what you're doing to your body?" They're just going to shut all that down, and because they're shutting it down you have no choice as a parent other than to step in and shut them down. So you, like I said, you take the stuff if you find it, you restrict access to friends, you definitely start tracking money and the flow of money, looking for gift cards or any online purchases. You're not going to catch everything, but the more aware you can be the better.
How parents can learn all they need to know about vaping.
As a sort of a little bit of a bonus, what I tell parents to do is ... and what I want you to do, really, is go down to your local vape shop, your local smoke shop. Don't worry, your neighbors aren't going to see you going in there and think you're developing a bad habit, but go in there and talk to the person that's working there and have them teach you all about vaping, right? All about the kinds of vapes, all about the types, what the different delivery systems look like, the different pods, the cartridges, what the batteries, what mods look like.
I mean, there's just such a culture and a world out there, so again, the more you know as a parent, the better off you'll be in understanding when your kid's doing it, identifying the warning signs, seeing the actual vapes which can be easily concealed, they can look like a little USB drive, they can look like plastic credit card, some are a little more obvious I think if you see them you would know.
But again, the more information you have, the better you'll be. And it's all about restricting, restricting, restricting, where if you hear a lot of my other podcast, you'll see that I'm a lot more sort of forgiving and about allowing for negotiation and conversation, when it comes to substances, that's just not one of those times. So anyways, thanks for tuning in today. And like always, if you want more information on ending your teen’s defiance and disrespect visit parentingyourteens.com where you can receive free training on how to do that very thing. We'll see you next time.
About Christopher Taylor, MFT
Christopher Taylor, MFT is a teen expert, therapist, author, and speaker with 16 years of experience working with teens and families. He provides teen and family therapy services in Folsom, Granite Bay, El Dorado Hills and surrounding areas. Chris is the author and creator of the Back to Basics: Tayloring Your Teen For Success Program, consisting of the book, workbook and online course.