Protecting Kids From Vaping: What Parents Should Know

July 23, 2025

Parents of young children may look at vaping and think, We have years before we need to worry about that.

And hopefully you do.

But protecting children from nicotine doesn't have to begin with a serious conversation after a vape has already appeared in a backpack. It can begin much earlier—with the everyday conversations, expectations, and relationships we build with our children.

For parents, that may be one of the most useful lessons in the research on youth vaping.

Youth Vaping Has Declined—But It Hasn't Disappeared

There is some genuinely good news.

Youth e-cigarette use in the United States has fallen considerably from its peak several years ago. According to the FDA's 2025 National Youth Tobacco Survey, about 5.2% of middle and high school students—approximately 1.44 million young people—reported currently using e-cigarettes.

Among high school students, the figure was 7.1%; among middle school students, 2.6%.

That's progress. But the data also show why parents shouldn't assume vaping has simply gone away.

Among young people who currently used e-cigarettes, more than one in four reported vaping every day, and 89.4% reported using flavored e-cigarettes.

Read the 2025 National Youth Tobacco Survey findings from the FDA.

Why Do Kids Start Vaping?

There isn't one answer.

The CDC points to several influences, including curiosity, friends and family members who vape, advertising and marketing, appealing flavors, and nicotine itself. Young people frequently obtain vaping products through other people, making the social environment around a child especially important.

Nicotine adds another concern.

Nicotine is addictive, and the developing adolescent brain is particularly susceptible to it. The CDC notes that young people can begin showing signs of nicotine addiction relatively quickly, sometimes before vaping becomes a regular or daily habit.

What begins as curiosity or something a friend offers can therefore become something considerably harder to stop.

Don't Wait for the Perfect "Vaping Talk"

Parents sometimes imagine difficult subjects require one big, perfectly prepared conversation.

They don't.

The FDA encourages parents to have honest conversations with children about vaping and even suggests practicing what a child might say if someone offers them an e-cigarette.

That conversation doesn't have to sound like a lecture.

A child might see someone vaping and ask what it is. A vape advertisement might appear somewhere. An older child might mention that someone at school has one.

Those ordinary moments give parents an opportunity to ask:

"What have you heard about vaping?"

"Why do you think some kids try it?"

"What would you do if somebody offered you one?"

Then listen.

Knowing what your child already thinks can be more useful than beginning with a speech.

Make Your Family's Expectations Clear

Conversation matters, but research suggests that the environment parents create matters too.

One large longitudinal study published in Pediatrics followed young people who had not previously used tobacco. Youth initiation was lower when parents and children agreed that their household had rules prohibiting tobacco use. Simply reporting that a parent had talked to the child about not using tobacco was not independently associated with lower initiation in that study.

Read the study in Pediatrics.

Another study of high-school students found that greater parental monitoring was associated with a lower prevalence of recent vaping, although—as with other observational research—an association doesn't by itself establish cause and effect.

Read the research on protective factors against youth vaping.

The practical lesson isn't that parents need to constantly watch their children.

It's that children benefit from knowing where their family stands.

Our family doesn't smoke or vape.

That's a simple expectation a child can understand long before adolescence.

The CDC and FDA also recommend keeping homes and cars tobacco- and vape-free and, for adults who use tobacco or vaping products, considering quitting.

Give Kids Something to Say

Here's one particularly practical idea from FDA guidance: don't only tell children to say no—help them practice how they could actually do it.

A child or teenager doesn't necessarily need a dramatic response.

"No thanks."

"That's not my thing."

Or simply changing the subject and walking away.

Parents can turn this into a quick role-playing exercise rather than a lecture. You pretend to be the friend offering the vape. Your child figures out how to respond.

It might feel silly.

That's okay.

Practicing an awkward situation at home can make the real situation feel a little less unfamiliar.

Prevention Starts Earlier Than We Think

For families with younger children, vaping may still seem far away.

But many of the things that may eventually help children navigate vaping, alcohol, peer pressure, and other difficult decisions aren't really about vaping at all.

They're about having conversations.

They're about children knowing they can ask their parents uncomfortable questions.

They're about setting reasonable boundaries.

They're about practicing how to make decisions when friends make different ones.

And they're about building a relationship in which children know their parents will listen.

At Storybooksong, that's the part that interests us most.

We can't make every decision for our children as they grow. But while they're young, we can build something they can carry with them: curiosity, confidence, communication, and the knowledge that home is a safe place to talk.

Protecting kids from vaping doesn't have to begin when someone offers them a vape. It can begin years earlier, one conversation at a time.