Vaping: What you need to know
What schools can do to address vaping:
- Update your school’s policies to prevent the use of vaping devices. This is unique to every school and you should consult your school’s lawyers.
- Look for ways to prevent students from vaping in unmonitored areas, like bathrooms and locker rooms.
- Stop vaping in your school community by implementing a vape and tobacco-free campus.
What Parents Can Do:
Research from the Office of the Surgeon General shows the number one way to prevent vaping in teens is through parents. The parent’s role is to demystify the false facts around vaping and encourage an honest conversation about it.
Students try vaping because they think it is safe and fun. If that message can be corrected, then students are less likely to vape, Surgeon General says.
Parents are encouraged to talk to their children about it, even if they aren’t vaping. Parents should discuss the truths and facts about vaping, how their child feels about it, and answer any questions they have.
Parents should also include information about the health effects of this dangerous trend and some of the issues that many teens are now facing as a result of excess vaping.
If parents catch their kids vaping, use that moment to educate them about the risks and unintended consequences of using e-cigs.
The US Surgeon General has published some helpful talking points and information for parents. You can find that information here.
Vaping is not going to disappear overnight. But just like tobacco, it can be stopped. The only way to do that is to approach the issues as a community, the Surgeon General says.
WCRIS is continuously monitoring vaping issues as it relates to students and schools and will provide updates via Current Events.
