A Question for Parents of Young Teens

As parents, you want what’s best for your son or daughter. That’s a given, right? But as kids get older, it can be harder to know what your kids are doing that could hurt them.

And one of the latest concerns a lot of parents of teens and pre-teens have is about the dramatic increase in vaping among young people.

An addiction specialist at the Betty Ford Center here in Southern California, calls it vaping among young people “the fastest growing substance abuse issue among that population."

In an investigation by our reporting partners , 10News found that according to the California Department of Education, the state average of 11 th graders, kids in the 6 th grade, using e-cigarettes these days is 10 percent.

You might say it’s only 10 percent or you might say 10 percent is a lot, and statewide it means tens of thousands.

And the 10News report found that in some San Diego County school districts, itt's higher. The Department of Education shows that Coronado, Carlsbad and San Dieguito school districts were much higher than the state average, with the amount of these young teens or pre-teens using e-cigarettes, is as high as 23 percent.

And remember that it is illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to buy e-cigarettes in California, along with any other tobacco product.

So how are kids getting the vaping devices they are using? That’s obviously a good question and parents who don't know the answer, need to look harder to find it.

Read more about what YOU can do as a parent from some experts .

(Photo credit Getty Images)

Vaping e-cigarettes  Getty Images

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