Sally*, 51, works in property development and lives in Barnes, south-west London, with husband Tom*, 55, a fund manager, and children Olivia*, 13, and Charles*, 12. I'm here.
Bright plastic e-cigarettes are everywhere, and of course I've seen them sold in stores and discarded on the street. But I never thought about it until a year ago, when vaping entered our family life.
My daughter, Olivia, who was 12 at the time, came home from school one day and told me how kids in her grade were vaping in the bathroom. I was surprised, I simply thought vaping was just a way to quit smoking. But here was my well-behaved pre-teen daughter telling how she was beckoned into the disabled toilet at lunchtime by other ninth-graders who were working knowing there were no surveillance cameras. Olivia was curious. She watched as vanilla and watermelon flavored e-cigs were handed out to her four girls. Olivia has become extremely germ-conscious since Covid-19, but she said it was “disgusting” for everyone to share mouthpieces. So she slipped out of her cubicle without participating.
I wasn't thrilled that this was happening at her smart private school, but I was happy that she was open to me. She please don't criticize me. But at the time, I was trying to be a “liberal” and said, “If you want to try vaping, come and talk to me. Maybe we can do it together.” It may seem irresponsible, but I let my kids have a little glass of wine every now and then.
It's normal to experiment when you're young, so I've never wanted to push things “underground”. Olivia rolled her eyes at my suggestion and said, “That's not cool, Mom, I'm not interested.”
we left it. But within minutes of his home, he noticed that four stores were selling e-cigarette kits, and that their cute packaging was being cynically marketed to children.
Six months after that conversation, I was in Olivia's room, sweeping my arm under her bed, hoping to find the usual empty yogurt pot and chocolate wrapper. Instead, she had two pen-sized e-cigs, one of which was rainbow colored. I was furious with the manufacturer, but also disappointed with her daughter. I left them both on her bed so she could see my discovery.
