My son, Avry, is a freshman in high school, so I've started thinking more about the possible good and bad influences in his life and what, as a parent, I should look out for. Nicotine addiction is top of the list, which puts vaping at the top of the list, too.

I sat down and talked with John Bennett, the Face2Face Program Director at Kids Escaping Drugs, and his biggest piece of advice for parents was to stay current on vaping trends and products.

At first, vaping was mostly done through pen-like electronic cigarettes, but many products now look like a badge, a USB drive or a remote control. Check out this photo -- these are ALL vaping devices:

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Many are easy to conceal in a hoodie or a backpack and are capable of delivering much higher concentrations of nicotine or THC than traditional cigarettes or rolled marijuana cigarettes. Here are two examples:

Bill Dubiel/Townsquare Media
Bill Dubiel/Townsquare Media
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Bill Dubiel/Townsquare Media
Bill Dubiel/Townsquare Media
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If you find a vaping device among your children's stuff, it's important to talk with your child about it — ask if they are aware of the dangers and addictive nature, how they got interested in it, etc. If you just throw it out and leave it at that, you're just teaching your kid to hide it better.

Kids Escaping Drugs has tons of resources, too. Click here to find out about intervention programs and educational presentations, and click here to see answers to frequently asked questions. You can reach out directly to a counselor and ask questions by clicking here.

We're all in this together, trying to make sure kids are staying safe throughout their teenage years.

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