Parents were today facing a furious backlash over a new TikTok challenge that sees them cracking eggs on their children’s heads.
Footage shows toddlers left confused, in pain or bursting into tears after the ‘egg cracking challenge’ – which some have likened to child abuse.
Other critics accused parents of exploiting their children in order to gain social media followers.
In some cases, the children appear to be older and are seen laughing after the egg has been cracked on their head.
Among those who criticized the trend was Sarah Adams, who campaigns against parental “oversharing” online.
In this case, the child cried out “mom” and started crying after having the egg cracked on him.
Meanwhile, this toddler appeared confused when his mother smashed an egg on her head during a cooking session
She said: I got tagged in a couple of these videos and saw it go both ways.
“One, the kid gets the egg on the head and they’re a little confused, shaken up, think it’s a little funny.
‘Then they move on. Or, they get the egg smashed on their head and they get really upset and they freak out,” Sarah explained.
“But when I see these videos, I think, are we so bored as parents and desperate for content?”
Ms Adams went on to question the motivations of the parents involved, asking: ‘(Do we) need to post on the internet so badly because it takes so long to be a part of our world?
“And the dopamine kick, and the likes and opinions, that we’re breaking eggs on our kids’ heads in 2023 in the hopes that they’ll have an entertaining reaction that we can post publicly online for entertain strangers?”
It comes a week after ‘TikTok yobs’ were seen rampaging around Oxford Street as part of a ‘appalling’ new craze encouraging young people to rob shops.
Met Police were forced to divert officers on London’s biggest shopping street and put in place a dispersal order to tackle the threat of breaking the law.
Large numbers of officers then had to flock to retail areas in Southend and Bexleyheath in the following days to prevent copycat attacks.
It comes a week after ‘TikTok yobs’ were seen rampaging around Oxford Street as part of a ‘appalling’ new craze encouraging young people to rob shops
In response, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warned that anyone participating would feel “the full force of the law”.
He said: “Criminal damage, criminal behavior is unacceptable. I fully support the police in bringing these people to justice.
“I want anyone watching who thinks of this, who sees something like this, to know that they will be facing the full force of the law.
“Because this type of behavior is simply unacceptable in our society.”
In June, a mother sounded the alarm about another game that was spreading on social media called the “tapping challenge”.
It involves being put in a chokehold to the point of passing out.
In June, a mother sounded the alarm about another social media game called the ‘tap out challenge’.
Katy Spence, a mother of two from Boston, Lincolnshire, was taking her son to the park when she spotted a group of school children pushing each other to complete the deadly challenge, Lincolnshire Live reported.
She said: “There was a group of about eight of them and they were making noise…I usually never said anything to anyone else’s child, but when I heard them say that, I had to intervene.”
“I told them they shouldn’t play this game, but they didn’t care what I had to say and said ‘are you going to stop us?
“They just had no regard for the danger they were putting themselves in, when I told them they might end up in a wheelchair they didn’t care.”
And last month it emerged that young women risked damaging their organs by following another craze that encourages the consumption of a toxic cleaning product to ease joint pain, fight infection and aid weight loss.
Hundreds of clips posted on social media app TikTok show supporters of the disturbing trend of mixing an American all-purpose cleanser called Borax with water and drinking it daily.
And on Facebook, users recommend that soaking in a bath containing it can relieve joint and muscle pain.
But Borax, which contains the mineral boron, is toxic even in amounts as small as a quarter teaspoon.
