Teens and vaping: The unfiltered truth ...part 4

If there is one question that has persevered throughout all the words inked and spoken in our series on e-cigarette use among teens, it is this: what should be done about it?

In a moment of cogency, Charleston Police Lieutenant James Byrne of Team 5 summed up everyone’s feelings.

“It’s not the police department’s place, it’s not the school’s place, it’s not the newspaper’s place, it’s not anybody else’s place to be the lead educator in a child’s life,” he said. “It’s the parents, 100 percent.”

“Rather than relying on simply ‘what did they learn in school’ or ‘what did the police officer tell you’ - those can be conversation starters - but this conversation, not just about vaping, but about tobacco, alcohol, drugs, needs to be coming from the parents,” Byrne continued.

So what’s a parent to do? Almost unanimously, everyone interviewed in this series implored people to simply talk to their kids.

“If you see that your kid has vaped or you’ve found a JUUL, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are addicted or that they’re using every day, but it certainly is time for a conversation to understand where they are,” said Professor of Addiction Sciences at MUSC Dr. Kevin Gray, a Daniel Island resident.

Keeping parents in the loop is one of Philip Simmons High School’s favorite policies when it comes to combating e-cigarette usage. According to Principal Anthony Dixon, they want to “give parents the opportunity to parent,” on this matter. Now, Dixon asks parents to use the school as a resource for the problem.

“Communicating back to the school is what parents should do, and if they need help, don’t be afraid to ask,” he said.

When they first started to notice vaping at the beginning of the current school year, Dixon said that his administration would contact parents before taking any action, if they heard rumors that students were using e-cigarettes.

Philip Simmons Middle School Principal Charla Groves commented that she has learned a lot about the e-cigarette phenomenon by looking at the media that kids consume.

“I’m not only an educator, I’m a middle school parent,” she said. “I have a sixth grader and an eighth grader. Listening to them and paying attention to social media and YouTube and that type of thing, we as a team have become aware [that] it is just so easy for students to get their hands on JUULs or BLUs or Boulders.”

When talking to a young person about vaping, both Groves and Associate Principal of Bishop England High School Mary Anne Tucker implore parents to speak from fact and keep an open mind.

“Do the research on it,” Tucker said. “Investigate what is available in the way of the medical repercussions.”

“It’s a big picture approach,” she continued. “You’re having conversations with your kids about these kinds of things, frequently. And a lot of times, it’s not so much the parent doing the talking, but the parents doing the listening.”

So, what’s the best way to talk to a child or a teenager about substance abuse? According to Dr. Andrew Mantini, a child, adolescent, and family psychologist at Sprouting Minds on Daniel Island, being clear and direct is the best course of action.

“Make sure that they are engaging in conversation about this because, if they are not setting guidelines about this and rules for their kids’ behavior, then it’s likely that somebody else is,” Mantini said.

Just as Groves and Tucker suggested, Mantini believes a parent should educate themselves first, then speak with their child or teen.

“Some kids, especially teenagers, are smart enough to know that they need some supporting facts, and so even doing research with kids, looking at popular websites and trying to find original sources is a really useful practice, just so there’s more education,” he stated.

As far as the specifics, like tone of voice or body language, Mantini said that it’s a matter of parental judgement.

“Whereas some kids are going to want something very structured, and say ‘hey, let’s have a formal conversation about this,’ other kids are going to want to talk about it in passing,” he said. “Parents know more about their kids and understand how they’re going to process that information, they’re going to have to rely on their own judgement for how to address that.”

The Daniel Island News asked high school and middle school students what parents could do to help, in a survey conducted earlier this month.

“Instead of punishment, they need to help us who started vaping to fit in and are now addicted. Negative reinforcement will never solve the problem for teenagers,” said one respondent. “The most common vape, called a boulder rock, is $13 for the device. Taking it away and punishing teenagers who were just trying to fit in…does not solve the problem.”

One student, on the other hand, advocated for stricter punishments.

“Schools should also ban any students from sports-related (activities) to the school they attend if caught vaping on social media, especially if they are wearing anything related to the school while doing it,” they stated. “Students should be suspended if they’re caught vaping on school property, even if it’s after school hours.”

Another respondent agreed that education was the best policy.

“I believe the job should be to teach students about vaping, alcohol, and drugs and make school an environment for learning purposes (meaning these things should not be done on campus),” they said. “It’s silly to hear about kids’ college careers being thrown away because they decided to experiment with substances that most adults are using. Ultimately, it’s the parents’ job to raise their kids and the schools’ job to teach them books.”

One middle school survey participant was not optimistic that parents and other adults can make a difference.

“I don’t think that there is anything adults can do because kids will keep doing it. It doesn’t matter if they get in trouble, they’ll try to sneak it.”

Another student had a more direct plea when asked what parents can do to help.

“Watch us closely and warn us frequently about the harm it can do.”