Teenagers vapeing

[diaryofamellowmum]

AIBU to say that many teenagers aged 13-15 vape?

Found a vape in ds bag and was 😱at first. However he has me convinced that all his friends do it (naice leafy secondary state school if that makes any difference) and I am starting to think it must be absolutely normal. He is 14 and has been to a few parties where people vape and some have started drinking beer and what not. AIBU to think that vaping and having an occasional beer at parties or in the park or friends' houses on the weekend at 14 is this basically pretty common teenage behaviour or do I have a particularly rebellious teen?

I don't know how to nip it in the bud. I don't like it but am realising it may be inevitable.

I wouldn't be happy or allowing it in my home, but unfortunately it's not like smoking, you aren't going to be able to smell it and therefore catch it unless you find a vape.

There's really not much you can do other than make it very clear how unhappy you are about it and dish out consequences if you find one, if he wants to vape he's going to. I imagine it's the same as when I was a teenager and snuck cigarettes.

I'd find out where he got it from first - then rain down bloody vengeance.

A shop near us sells them to kids - i told DD if i ever find they've sold her a vape, I'll march her in there and cause such a scene she'd want to go into witness protection.

It wasn't something my teens or their friends did. There was the odd person in the group that did. But they did say there were a lot of.kids in their year groups that vaped.

All you can do is just say what the concerns are, set ground rules (not in the house) and be consistent.

I pick my battles and my teens vaping and drinking at parties isn't one of them

Thanks, a more balanced response than I expected, I thought I'd be told in no uncertain terms how unreasonable I am and what a delinquent ds is. I also smoked cigarettes in my youth.

Hoping it won't advance to smoking weed, which appears to be the next step up, that's the bigger concern. When the novelty of vaping has worn off and it's seen as babyish, it will be a likely next step. Many of ds' mates started vaping in year 7 or 8 and beer etc in year 8. Some do it in the school toilets too.

How do you all feel about occasional beer / cider?

Is it as common among girls? We have dd 12 with all this and peer pressure ahead of her. I didn't expect any of this as we chose their school carefully, or so I thought.

I didn't have an issue with them having alcohol, as long as they were sensible. They have been miles more boring sensible then I ever was. There hasn't seem to be much in the way of peer influence, we had the conversations around safety etc and they were pretty on the ball with it.

I would have more of an issue with weed or other illegal drugs but thankfully I have a few people in my life I can use as examples of why drugs are not a good idea

I have no issues with teens having a couple of beers or cider. Weed i would lose my shit because of the mh implications

So are you allowing it after you found it? We found a vape in my eldest’s blazer pocket when he was about 15 and I gave him a good lecture about how the risks aren’t properly known but it could end up being worse than smoking and how I’d had to watch my dad die of lung cancer and didn’t want him to have the same fate, then threw it in the bin. I don’t know or care if all his friends were doing it, and I couldn’t stop him doing it when he wasn’t with me, but I absolutely let him know that I was not allowing him to do it. He wasn’t one for going out with friends much so was mostly in the house so I’m pretty sure he didn’t do it again or at least can’t have done it much.

Terrible idea!! Deter him any way you can. Make it painfully clear that you disapprove and that you disapprove of weed and that you disapprove of alcohol. Impose consequences. Be a total baddie. This is your job as a parent, lean in.

Your opinion carries much more weight than you think so use it. Pretend if you have to. The later they start any of this, if at all, the better.

(if you're feeling unsure, go to the teenagers page on this site and read about all the DC19s who won't go to college, hit their mums and smoke/vape all day long whilst gaming)

Vaping is just as bad, healthwise, as smoking any form of tobacco and all the research supports this. It is a stepping stone to weed since that can be vaped and as you posit, when the novelty of vaping wears off, they turn to weed.

All of these things are commonplace for girls too - not many delicate flowers these days - so, again, make your opinions clear.

I live in a leafy Cathedral city in the south. It is rampant at our well-heeled state secondary. The SLT there are always trying to address it. - locked loos, heat sensors (for the vaping) in loos.

https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/up-to-1-in-4-vapes-confiscated-in-schools-contains-spice-and-these-are-pushed-on-social-media/

They’re illegal to sell to 14yo and as ever that means you have absolutely no idea what is actually in it

We have year 7s who vape.
It is a huge problem and that is another reason why a phone ban is good at schools. No arranging meetings in toilets to buy vapes, at short notice.
i think it’s really hard to stop teenagers vaping - its highly addictive. And no one knows what is in these vapes, if purchased from corner shops, off dealers etc.

Many do. My dad smoked then vaped but dc only remember him vaping. He now has lung cancer and secondary brain tumour so my asthmatic dc are fully against it, but they are in the minority. I’m more concerned you have no idea what’s in them.