Parent Takes Control of Teen Vaping Habits

To ensure safety, a mother buys vapes for her children to control their nicotine intake.

In an attempt to keep her children safe, one mother has decided to buy her teenagers the vapes they crave. This difficult decision reflects growing parental concern about the health risks associated with unregulated vaping products and the addiction it can cause.

A Tough Choice

To curb her children’s nicotine consumption, Emma made a choice she never thought she would. She now purchases the vapes herself, believing this offers a degree of control over the products her kids are using. Her goal is to ensure they are using safer vapes with lower nicotine levels.

Emma admits the decision was not easy. She recognized her children were addicted, and simply telling them to stop would not work. The goal was to transition them to a safer source and reduce nicotine content.

“It went against every bone in my body to do that, but they’re addicted,” Emma says. “It’s not a simple case of telling them to stop – it is so much harder than that.”

—Emma

Emma‘s son, whose name has been withheld, started vaping early. His vaping caused him to experience health problems such as breathlessness, tonsillitis, and severe pain that required an ambulance. In 2023, the CDC reported that 2.55 million U.S. middle and high school students use e-cigarettes (CDC).

Taking Action

The paramedics suggested the persistent vaping might have been the cause of her son’s health issues. This incident led Emma to act. She decided to buy the vapes, aiming to reduce the nicotine level from 20mg to 10mg.

Emma warned her children that if they used vapes with higher nicotine levels, she would stop buying them entirely. She felt this approach gave her the confidence the vapes would be from a reliable source and safer, with controlled nicotine content.