Vaping - Do you allow your kid to do this?

[Anonymous]

Your kid can end up with severe lung damage. It’s nasty stuff.

[Anonymous]

No, it's gross. I don't approve but I'm not naive to think that my kids haven't tried it.

Like any vice, far more of our kids have done it or do it than any of us think.

[Anonymous]

I vape and I tell my children how bad it is. They are young elementary aged. I hope I can kick the habit before they are teens, I don't want to be a bad example. But I think it's way better than what I've done in the past (getting drunk, taking prescribed Klonopin every day, cigarettes).

Now if it was a THC vape? I plan on educating them about how thc is not good for developing brains. But I have smoked weed every day since I was 17, and I turned out to be alright, so I wouldn't fuss about it too much. Once they are 18 I wouldn't mind smoking with them either if they are already doing it all the time.

[Anonymous]

I would not allow this. Vaping is so bad for health.

No smoking, drinking etc when still living in my house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS vapes when he's with some of his friends. He only does it occasionally and, honestly, of all the things he could be doing we're OK with it. Even teens need some kind of vice.

Meanwhile I told my kid I’d rather they do almost anything else (that doesn’t endanger others) than vape.

If he vapes nicotine chance are extremely high he isn’t doing it “only occasionally”— nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here -so I didn't phrase it properly - now "Allow" per se - but these kids are OPENLY vaping - it's not like pot or alcohol or even smoking where they have to sneak around. Have you seen your kids Vaping - or their friends? What did you do?

If I saw my teenager vaping with her friends, I would confiscate the vape and take her home, where we would have a serious conversation about it being bad for her. Frankly, I'd prefer her to smoke cigarettes over vaping - it's terrible and gross, but I'd smell it a mile away and the health effects are a lot better understood than the "smokeless" tobacco that is entirely chemical.

Unlike a number of people on this thread, I've actually used a nicotine vape and a THC vape before (not regularly, but because I was curious what the difference was and anticipated probably having to talk about it with my kids). I think it caters to the worst impulse control issues we have as a culture. If someone wants to smoke a cigarette, they have to go outside these days. If you vape, none of that really applies. You can just do it anywhere. I'm a therapist and I had a client take a hit of a vape pen DURING SESSION and be confused about why it was inappropriate - an adult in his 40s, not a child.

In any case, I think that most parents do not encourage vaping of nicotine or THC or any other kind of substance use. Teenagers are pretty well known to experiment. If I actually SAW my child doing any of that, I would intervene with her directly. If I found the vape pen or wine coolers in her room or heroin, I'd confiscate it and we'd be having a serious conversation about the whole business. At this point, the only "drug stuff" I would not feel that way about is Narcan.