How to know what you are looking for

Imagine how hard it must be to look for “something” when you really have no idea what that “something” looks like.

Take the situation at our high school and the JUUL.

Do you know what it is? Do you know what it looks like? This takes the proverbial needle in a haystack to a completely different level when you’re not even sure what that needle looks like.

As parents and grandparents we are often woefully behind the times when it comes to the latest trends with teens. We’re fairly on-point when it comes to things we can see, like telling that teen in front of you at the grocery store to pull his pants up, but there are so many things in the life of a teen that we don’t see or even begin to understand.

In our story this week about vaping at the high school we’ve included a photo of what the packaging looks like for the JUUL e-cig we’ve been talking about, but that is just the surface.

Fortunately, we have the Internet to fill in the knowledge gaps for us. We can do a search for images of the JUUL, we can see videos of them in action and, of course, read hundreds and hundreds of pages of documents about them.

The safety of our children is something we all must take very seriously and we encourage you to research e-cigs in all their forms so you know what it is you’re actually looking for. Have an honest conversation with your teen. Talk with your grandson or granddaughter about the things they’re in to.

Not everything these kids find entertaining or engaging is bad, but there is no way to know for sure until we start having face to face talks with them. You may be surprised at what they read, the movies they watch or even the foods they enjoy.

A wise man learns something new every day.