There is a full year's worth of monthly TikTok “challenges” for schools and it is something that parents and educators need to be aware of. While it is a reality that we all have to face, our children are online. They are parts of social media platforms, and while these can have benefits like education and connection, there are some pretty big negatives that parents need to keep on top of. TikTok is one of the most popular apps right now for youth, and adults, but there always seems to be trends and challenges that become a big hit.
There was recently a “slap a teacher” challenge that parents were being warned about, where a student walks up and slaps a teacher and then posts about it online. According to Distractify and HITC, this was only one of the several challenges that are lined up for the year.
Slap a teacher was the October challenge, and September had the ‘devious licks’ challenge, but there are more for the remaining months of the year. Now could be the perfect time to talk to your children about these challenges and the consequences that may come of them.
While some of the challenges appear to be typical, prank-type behavior (which is still wrong), some of them are more serious and more than one includes sexual assault/harassment. We are going to do a quick breakthrough here. November appears to be "kiss your friend’s girlfriend," followed by deck the halls and show your balls in December. The new year doesn’t get any better with “jab a breast” and “mess up school signs” in January and February.
March and April involve more theft and vandalism, with making a mess in the cafeteria and “grab some eggz,” respectively. May involves a ditch day, and June is the big ending when students are planning to give the front office in school the middle finger. A lot of these challenges are serious offenses, and they could involve suspension, expulsion, and even criminal charges if involved. These are choices that children make that could come with some serious consequences that have the ability to follow them for the rest of their lives. That is why it is so important to make sure children understand that these are not fun challenges to take part in and it could have an impact on their college applications and future jobs. With youth wanting their “viral” moment online, these all may seem like their ticket to the big time.
Sources: Distractify, HITC