Smoking and vaping - how to discourage your children

Experts are concerned that young people are experimenting with vaping at an ever younger age. When people smoke a cigarette, they inhale chemicals and fine particles that cause or contribute to a wide range of diseases, including cancers, heart disease and emphysema. When people vape an e-cigarette, they inhale chemicals, heavy metals and fine particles that pose risks to lung health and can cause poisoning. Faulty e-cigarette devices can also explode and cause fires.

People who smoke frequently become addicted to nicotine, and e-cigarettes that contain nicotine are addictive too. Children who vape nicotine are much more likely to start smoking. The best protection against addiction, illness and injury is never to vape or smoke in the first place.

Children entering their teenage years are experimental, curious and vulnerable to peer pressure and online promotion. Whether a child ends up vaping or smoking regularly depends on many factors. Parents cannot always stop a child from trying e-cigarettes or cigarettes, but several strategies can reduce the chance that a child wants to vape or smoke, or does so regularly.

What is vaping?#

An e-cigarette is a battery-powered device that heats a liquid into an aerosol that is inhaled into the lungs. This aerosol contains many different chemicals, and at least 20 of them have been shown to damage the lungs or other organs. The aerosol may or may not contain nicotine.

E-cigarettes come in many shapes and colors. They can look like cigarettes or cigars, or like everyday items such as pens, memory sticks or highlighters. They may be called vapes, hookah-pens or other names. In many places, vaping products can only be bought legally with a doctor’s prescription, yet testing shows that most e-cigarettes sold in shops or online contain nicotine, often without this being stated on the label.

The link between vaping and smoking#

There is a strong link between vaping and smoking in children, largely because many e-cigarettes contain nicotine, an addictive substance. In young people, vaping tends to lead to or reinforce smoking. Non-smoking children who vape nicotine are about three times more likely than non-users to start smoking. Both smoking and vaping are harmful to health, whether or not the e-cigarette contains nicotine.

Why some children vape or smoke#

Some of the reasons a child may try e-cigarettes or cigarettes include:

• Peer bonding and the desire to fit in with friends
• Copying parents or older brothers or sisters who smoke
• A wish to assert their growing independence
• A desire to appear more grown up and sophisticated
• Curiosity
• The appeal of sweet flavors in e-cigarettes
• Imitating actors, models or influencers in movies, video games or social media

Although older forms of cigarette and e-cigarette advertising have been banned in many places, children are increasingly exposed to branding and promotion through the internet and social media. E-cigarettes often come in a wide range of sweet flavors that appeal to children, and child-friendly packaging featuring cartoons, or designed to look like juice boxes, sweets or biscuits, is common. Some products make it easier for children to hide their vaping, such as attachments that reduce the visible aerosol, or devices concealed in clothing, toys and smart watches. Together, advertising and these features give children the impression that vaping is fun, cool, lower risk and a way to get around smoke-free rules.

Some children are more at risk than others, including those who:

• Have certain temperaments, such as poor self-control, a tendency to rebel, or a leaning towards sensation-seeking and risk-taking
• Have friends or family members who vape or smoke
• Experience depression, anxiety or emotional distress, or have mental health or behavioral problems

Be a good role model#

If you do not want your child to vape or smoke, set a good example by not smoking yourself, and only vape if a doctor has prescribed it to help you stop smoking. Research shows children are less likely to smoke if their parents stop smoking or have never smoked.

If you smoke or vape and have found quitting hard, share your experience with your child. Tell them how it feels to be hooked on something you do not want to do, or how much money you wish you had not spent over the years. If you see vaping as a way of reducing your own risk from smoking, try not to make that the main message to your child, because vaping is harmful and carries extra health risks for children.

You can also ask your children for their support during your next attempt to quit. If they see how tough quitting can be, they may want to avoid addiction altogether.

Take a stand against vaping and smoking#

Other ways to reinforce the non-vaping and non-smoking message include:

• Do not allow anyone to vape or smoke in your home.
• Talk about vaping and smoking with your child when you see other people doing it.
• Do not let your child light a cigarette for you or anyone else, or try your or anyone else’s e-cigarette.
• Do not let your child buy e-cigarettes or cigarettes for you or anyone else.
• If adults in the house smoke or vape, make sure they keep their products where children cannot reach them.

Educate your child about the risks#

Symptoms of many smoking-related illnesses tend to appear in middle or later life, and the long-term effects of vaping are still unknown because the products have only been widely used for about a decade. Trying to explain risks that lie 20 or 30 years away may have little impact on a child or teenager. Mention the long-term risks, but focus more on the risks to their health and wellbeing right now.

Some of the risks to teenagers include:

• Reduced fitness levels (smoking or vaping)
• Stained teeth and fingers and unpleasant-smelling breath (smoking)
• Dental problems (smoking or vaping)
• Coughing and wheezing, and worse symptoms for children with asthma (smoking or vaping)
• Pre-diabetes, or metabolic syndrome (smoking)
• Being unattractive to peers who do not vape or smoke (smoking or vaping)
• Wasting money that could be spent on clothes, music or other things (smoking or vaping)

Addiction and the developing brain#

Many young people develop symptoms of addiction even if they do not vape or smoke every day, and for some, symptoms can appear within days to weeks of starting. Once symptoms of nicotine addiction appear, stopping becomes much harder.

A person’s brain keeps developing until around the age of 25. Smoking or vaping while the body and brain are still growing can have long-lasting effects, including:

• Poorer lung growth and weaker lungs (smoking)
• Poorer bone growth, leading to lower bone mass in adulthood (smoking)
• Effects on brain development linked to poorer attention, learning, memory, concentration and control of emotions (smoking or vaping)

Less common but very serious risks of vaping#

• Serious lung injury that can lead to hospitalization or death, including in teenagers and young adults. These cases are known as EVALI (e-cigarette or vaping associated lung injury) and can affect users of e-cigarettes containing nicotine or substances from cannabis.
• Burns and injuries from faulty e-cigarettes exploding.
• Nicotine poisoning, which can occur if a child or adult swallows vaping liquid or spills it on their skin. They may need hospital treatment, and in severe cases it can be fatal. Very young children are most at risk. If you suspect nicotine poisoning, contact a poisons information line or emergency services straight away.

Harm to the environment#

Cigarettes and e-cigarettes harm the environment and contribute to climate change. E-cigarettes are both e-waste and a biohazard: they contain single-use plastics, lithium batteries, metals, nicotine and other chemicals that can leach into the environment and poison animals, and there is not yet a reliable system to dispose of them safely. Large areas of forest are cleared to grow tobacco for cigarettes and to produce nicotine for e-cigarettes. Cigarette butts make their way into coastal waters, where they remain for years and leach nicotine, which is also a pesticide, into the environment.

What to do if your child already vapes or smokes#

If your child is already vaping or smoking, or you suspect they may be, try not to get angry or make threats. Stay calm and have a conversation using a reasonable, adult-to-adult tone, and ask open-ended questions to find out what they find appealing about the products.

For example, fitting in with peers may be important to them. Rather than forcing your child to stop seeing friends who vape or smoke, you could say you disapprove of it while letting your child fit in with their peers in other ways, such as wearing a similar style of clothes. You could also help your child question the value of always following the crowd, which can be an opportunity to encourage them to think and act independently.

Teenagers with disposable income are more at risk of trying vaping out of curiosity. Talking with them about their spending and saving, and about other interests or hobbies they would like to spend money on, may help.

Because young people experiencing stress, anxiety and depression are more at risk of smoking, a broader approach to health and wellbeing may also help. This can include a good sleep routine, a healthy diet, enjoyable exercise, programs that support mental health such as mindfulness meditation, and other strategies that reduce anxiety and depression.

If your child wants to stop vaping or smoking but is finding it hard, help is available. Quitline counselors are trained to talk about vaping and smoking with young people and to support them to quit. Children aged 12 to 17 may use nicotine replacement therapy such as patches or lozenges to help them quit smoking, but it is strongly recommended they speak to their doctor or another trained health professional first.

Vaping and smoking become more common as students move through school, so it helps to start these conversations early.

Key points#

• The safest choice is for children never to start vaping or smoking, as both are harmful and nicotine is addictive.
• Children who vape nicotine are much more likely to go on to smoke.
• Marketing, sweet flavors and concealable, child-friendly designs make e-cigarettes appealing to young people.
• Being a good role model, setting clear rules, and focusing on the here-and-now risks can help discourage your child.
• If your child already vapes or smokes, stay calm, talk openly, and seek support such as a quitline if they want to quit.

Where to get help#