In this latest TikTok trend, known as #eggprank, parents are smashing an egg on their children’s heads. It may have started out as parents trying to be funny for views but now they are facing serious backlash over the physical and psychological effects they could be causing their children.
The exploitation of children on the internet is alive and thriving with this trend, as parents take pride in humiliating their kids and sharing it with the rest of the world. The egg-cracking trend began as a trend where adults would smash eggs on the heads of other adults. Somehow, it has turned into a trend where parents smash eggs on their young children’s heads.
#Eggprank has over 681 million views in total. Though controversial, it still seems highly popular. Now, parents face backlash from experts and other parents over the consequences the trend can have on their children.
Psychological effects of the trend
While the parents believe the whole ordeal to be a silly joke, many therapists and mothers have called them out. Dr. Niamh Lynch explains that children cannot distinguish between a prank and reality because their brains are immature. This means the children interpret it as an assault. She explains the three problems she has with this content:
‘Number one, you are humiliating your child. Number two, you are assaulting your child and number three you are sharing that assault and humiliation on the internet.’
Valeria Lipovetsky, a mother of three, also made a video about her feelings on the trend. She states that ‘it feels like a bit of a violation of trust if that makes sense’.
She goes on to say that you can see a shift in the children’s faces as they react to what has just happened. This is something that therapist Chrissy Powers breaks down in one video.
@chrissyjpowers #stitch with @?Funny Baby? this isn’t funny, this creates trauma and unneeded confusion in your child. It will harm your attachment with them. Please don’t do this trend. #eggcrackchallenge #eggcrackprank #attachmentinjury #greenscreen ♬ original sound – Chrissy Powers
While a few children have reacted to the trend by laughing and finding it funny, the vast majority of children have reacted by being upset, with some crying and hitting their parents back. Chrissy believes the whole thing is very harmful and an ‘unneeded trauma’ as it goes against the children’s belief that they are in a safe space.
@sarahdaliaelmir ? cracking eggs trend #kids #funny #family #fyp #trending #motherdaughter ♬ son original – Sarah Dalia Elmir
Physical effects of the trend
As well as there being very obvious psychological effects to this trend, it is also physically damaging to the children. It takes a solid amount of force to crack an egg. TikTok User Sarah Dalia Elmir attempted the challenge but did not end up smashing the egg as she realized how hard she would have to hit her daughter. She captioned her video, ‘How hard are y’all hitting your kids’. One person commented under the video, ‘You’re the only mom I’ve seen actually caring if it would hurt your kid’. Another person commented, ‘See, this is cute because the mom actually cared about whether or not she hurt the kid’.
Aside from the pain caused, pediatric allergists have been voicing their concerns over potential allergy risks. Dr. Rubin took to TikTok to explain the physical effects of cracking a raw egg on your child.
@rubin_allergy There is no reason to hit a child with an egg. There are potential infectious disease and food allergy risks associated with this trend. Why take the risk, even if it’s small? #eggcrack #eggs #food #allergies #kidsoftiktok #babiesoftiktok #parentsoftiktok #tiktokdoc #learnontiktok #longervideos ♬ original sound – Dr. Rubin, MD
In this video, he explained that:
‘If you’re going to crack an egg on your child and they get raw egg on their hands or on their hands or on their body and they touch that, they are going to ingest raw egg and that is a risk for them getting an infection with salmonella bacteria which can make them very, very sick.’
As we have all seen from the videos, some parents are using their very young kids of about toddler age to participate in this trend. Dr. Rubin goes on to explain that the risk is even greater with toddlers who have eczema. If the skin is exposed to raw eggs, it increases the risk of sensitization. This could then lead to an allergy later in life, all because of a trend.
Imagine finding out that you have an allergy because your parents used you to go viral.
Is going viral worth it?
The trend is problematic, to say the least. There are so many risks it’s a wonder anyone has participated in it. We have reached a point where we are so obsessed with the possibility of going viral that people are willing to risk the health of their own children.
There is something particularly unsettling about this situation. It is the willingness of parents to publicly embarrass their children, to openly display their humiliation and the complete disregard for causing them physical pain.
Why are we so obsessed with going viral that this trend is not only something people have created but something that people have enjoyed?
It is heartbreaking to see children being exploited once again, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Though Washington state is beginning to take steps to deal with the issue, it is unlikely that this is the last trend we will see where people risk their children’s physical and emotional well-being in the hope of achieving extra likes.
