What is Juuling? And How Bad Is It?-A Mom's Persepective
Do you know what a Juul is? Have you heard of an e-cigarette? If you have not heard of this and you are a parent you need to get educated. Honestly if you are a parent and you have not heard of this you might be living under a rock and I am coming at you hard with REAL TALK to get you out from under the rock. There is an epidemic and it is killing our children. You heard me, killing them. And it is time to bring light to it. The media has started and I am here to join forces because I am scared. I am a parent of two teens and an eight year old and I am in fear for them and their friends.
If you are a parent and you have heard of this, you need to get to talking to your kiddo. I am not kidding when I tell you this. Education is key and communication is crucial. Why? Because the makers behind these devices and the liquids going into them are out to get every kid in the world! All to fill their pocket books for life. Our children, yours, mine, your neighbors kids- kids, every kid is who they want!
Why? Because they have discovered kids are easy to market too. They are gullible, and our kids believe it if it is in writing (ie. false advertising) that it claims to be safer than a good ole fashion cigarette then that is just what it is. They are risk takers and their poor frontal lobes are not developed enough to tell them otherwise.
Something to keep in mind….how easy these are too hide. I honestly thought it was a gadget for the computer! NO LIE! Education is important.
Want to know what happens when they try it? They get a buzz they can’t resist and they love. The odds are stacked against them immediately and more than likely they will get addicted to the Juul and the people selling it, the people making it, the people investing in it because they are excellent marketers and excellent at telling our kids what they want to hear and when they do right…..well, they will have a client for life. They want your money and your childs brain. You think I am kidding? Consider this.
In December 2018 it was announced that each Juule employee would receive an average of $1.3 million in bonuses because Altria, the parent company of Marlboro, invested $12.8 BILLION in Juul, giving the tobacco giant a direct line to millions of youth e-cigarette users. Now if that does not get your attention I don’t know what will. I find that very scary and downright disturbing.
What can we do about it? Well, I am a firm believer and always have been that it has to start at home. This is hard when you are dealing with a teenager. Trust me. I can 100 percent say I know and understand. I have two at home right now as I type this and YES hands down they think I am the biggest idiot on the face of this earth and honestly probably do not like me. Not always, but most of the time. My job however is to say, “Hey, that is ok, I am not interested in being your friend, nor am I interested in being your friends friend, or your friends parents friend! I am interested in being your parent and keeping you alive so YOU and I can see what your amazingly, wonderful, future has in store for you!”
I believe whole heartedly that opening up the communication on this is crucial. I want to educate you a little bit about what they are dong so maybe you can get the courage, the gumption, the guts, the whatever it is you need to begin the conversation. You never know, maybe they want you too because they don’t know where to go. They are scared if they come to you! They are fearful of any kind of negative reaction. What they don’t understand and maybe you don’t understand is that you are the most influential person in your kids life. Yep! You are! Even on the days they think you are just plain dumb! You can influence your child. You just have to be ready to listen first, try to understand your child and why or how it started, and THEN you can try to help them understand you and the facts. But, if you miss the first part of listening you lose the entire battle before you even begin.
Facts to kids are not as important as their feelings. WE need to be listening to their feelings and trying to understand where they are coming from. Ask questions that do not require a yes or no. Ask, “Why?” And then listen. Ask , “How come?” And then listen. Ask, “Tell me more about that.” And then listen. Ask, “Help me understand.” And then listen!
Get curious. Show them compassion and THEN share your concerns and facts.
But in order to be able to do this you need to understand vaping. Vaping is the act of inhaling and exhaling the heated nicotine liquid (or other liquids) by means of a vape pen or e-cigarette (aka:Juul). Also known as JUULing.
So now that you know what vaping is….Did you know that most kids start by vaping an innocent flavor? A delicious flavor too I might add! They have everything from mint, to cucumber mint, to fruity pebbles to who knows what else. It is not nicotine it is a simple liquid flavor. My first reaction to this was “WHY!?” Why on earth would you vape and inhale a heated liquid for its flavor! Chew gum for crying outloud! Well here are some of the reasons:
“It’s cool”-there is no negative stigma amongst young people associated with vaping
It’s easy to hide
Flavors are delicious (cherry, peppermint, cucumber, fruity pebbles)
Easy to acquire
Aggressive marketing campaign
Highly addictive
Provides a means to smoking tobacco or marijuana
I have to be honest when I see all this I still scratch my head. I keep thinking why would anyone want to inhale heat? So I asked my own son why kids do this and his response was, “You get a good buzz”. That buzz is hard to compete with friends. I am hear to tell ya it is a battle and a battle that will destroy your homelife and your child. It is a battle that will drive you insane! Trust me. We are living it and it is hard to type that but we are. My heart hurts and my heart is in fear, but what can I do?
I will tell you. First thing Trey and I can do is open up conversation. Before we could do this though, we had to get educated. I am hoping this little blog post will be cliff notes for you all so you can start talking now because I see this epidemic getting out of control. Did you know there has already been one confirmed death of a child from the Juul and there are many kids in hospitals across the country with a “mysterious” upper respitory virus that presents like walking pnemonia that they are thinking it is tracing back to the Juul? Are you aware of this? It is seriously worse I think then they thought 3 months ago and the longer the makers of Juul are allowed to market it our kids are at risk! So get educated…Let me see if I can help you get started:
STATISTICS:
At least 38% of high schoolers and 13% of middle schoolers have tried vaping and the percentage is seriously low because it is based on self report. Personally what kid is going to admit this?!!!! (My money says it is 80-90% of both middle and high schoolers….but that is my opinion)
Legal age for buying a vape pen juuls is 18 years of age
Twice as many high-school students vape as smoke
Over the past 5 years e-cigarette use has not dropped
Teens who vape are three times more likely to later smoke cigarettes
Along with educating yourself, you and your partner need to come up with boundaries and consequences that you both agree on in the event that you discover your child is involved with juuling. You need to know what they are and you need to be prepared to stick to them. This is hard, but it is key. If you don’t have this discussion with your parnter your child will come between you both and he or she will have the upper hand. So know what your consequence and boundaries are together as a united front.
So here is the deal plain and simple: YOU HAVE TO TALK TO YOUR KIDS. Your are the biggest social influence in your child’s life contrary to belief. You can be a huge influence in your child’s decision on whether to vape or not. BUT YOU HAVE TO TALK TO THEM.
This is hard. I KNOW! TRUST ME I KNOW. Reasoning with a teen or preteen is almost impossible and aruguments almost always break out. They just do. What is something you can do to help. Start by catching them doing something RIGHT! Start there….then when the timing is right open the conversation. For instance you see someone using an e-cigarette in person or on TV or in the movies….or you pass an e-cigarette shop while driving or see an advertisment. These opportunities will help the conversation be more natural if you will….but be prepared to ask questions and then listen. Listening to their answers will give you more information on why they are doing it. Maybe it is to feel “cool”, maybe it is due to stress from a relationship, maybe it is simple “peer pressure”, maybe it is a way to escape, or maybe it truly has become an addiction. Whatever the case is continue to be curious. The more curious you are and the more questions you ask will help them in communicating back to you what they are thinking and maybe even their why.
You also need to be prepared to answer their questions. Here is a slide as to how to answer some of their questions.
Once you get through this process it is WAY ok to share your concerns. Just remember to stay calm. Especially when you are discussing the rules of your home and the consequences if your child decides to partake in this behavior.
IF you are highly suspicious of this behavior already, did you know you can test them? There are nicotine test on the market and yes it is ok to test your child! Does it send the message that you don’t trust them? NO! Actually I really wish I would have been testing my boys since middle school. True story! We told them in middle school we would be drug testing randomly for their safety. We explained it was our right and that it would allow them an out should they ever be pressured. Did we do it? God’s truth no and I am so sad we did not. WE waited until it was necessary and that is never fun.
Here is what testing them actually does though. It opens up communication. If they are negative you approach it with “YES! I am so proud of you as this stuff is no joke!” And you feed them the facts. IF they are positive, well, now you know and you can have even more to talk about.
This is hard and never fun. I know. Raising kids today is scary, but you know what’s even scarier? Losing your child to something that could have been prevented if we just knew the facts. As God as my witness, just today a dear childhood friend called and I discovered her son is in the hospital right now for a respitory condition they think is a result of Juuling! When I got that call I told her that she was a sign from God I needed to get this post out. I have been sitting on it for months for fear of backlash or people saying I am over reacting. Well, I am not sitting anymore nor should you!
Here is some information about that Juul that I find very disturbing hence this blog post.
Ok if that does not scare you listen to this! Autopsies were performed on indivdiuals who had passed away (not of juuling) and they were aware that had used the juul. These individuals had the sores that people get in their mouths from juuling and they went all the way down their mouth, trachea, esophagus, and into their lungs! These sores are the sores that the doctors cannot figure out how to get rid of them. Why? Because they are finding that the metal that the juul makers use is cheap and toxic. When the metal and the toxic chemicals heat up they have no idea what is happening when it turns into a gaseous form. That is stupid scary and these people are marketing this to our kids! And our kids are falling into the trap and becoming addicted. It is a problem friends and one that I hope you all will join me in fighting. Our kids are depending on us too.
Remember this: “The hardest part of parenting is raising children.”-Anonymous
Until Next Time,
XO,
Amy
I would like to thank our church Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas for hosting our amazing School District, Highland Park ISD, and their Parent Education Committee in a discussion on vaping in the spring. I would also like to thank Sparrow House Counseling and EnterHealth Addiction Treatment Center for the slides used in this blog post
PS. If you suspect your teen is juuling and you need help here are a few resources:
https://www.sparrowhousecounseling.com/
http://www.mend-counseling.com/ -Jennifer Blazek. LPC-S
http://www.harbergcounseling.com/
