Getting Through to Your Teen About the Dangers of Vaping

Teens may be more likely to open up if parents ask what’s going on in school and among their friends. “They are more likely to talk about them versus themselves,” says Sarper Taskiran, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Child Mind Institute in New York. When parents take a more curious, nonjudgmental stance, kids will be more willing to talk—and even reveal if they have tried e-cigarettes, he says.

One message that particularly resonates with kids is how they are being targeted by e-cigarette companies, with candy-like flavors and promotion by cool-looking influencers, says Dr. Taskiran from the Child Mind Institute. “Teens are at an age that they want control and they want to be autonomous. Pointing out that [those who vape] are being controlled by a multibillion-dollar company is something that is very upsetting to them,” he says.