Pediatrician Explains Why the Viral Egg Crack Challenge Is Problematic

These days, there’s no shortage of fun, viral trends on TikTok to try out with your kids. Trending dances like the foot Footshake Challenge and the Cupid Dance Challenge can be a fun way to bond with your child and make memories. But occasionally, viral social media trends take things a little too far. Children are put in harm’s way, feelings are hurt, or even worse, trust between a parent and child is broken, just for the sake of views.

The latest potentially damaging video trend taking social media by storm—the Egg Crack Challenge. If you haven’t seen the Egg Crack Challenge on your feed yet, the new trend involves parents setting up a baking scene with their kids. But instead of cracking eggs into a bowl, the parent suddenly cracks the egg on their child’s head.

Reactions to this fast-growing “prank” range from shock and frustration to cries, frustration and even retaliation. Across the internet users remain divided as to whether this is a funny prank soon to blow over or if this is a cruel joke that will emotionally scar your little one. Amid all the voices, pediatrician and trusted social media influencer Mona Amin, MD, weighs in.

Using another trending video format, Amin, alongside her son, cracks an egg into a bowl this time as the video zooms in with an important message. “Teaching my kid that eggs are for cracking on a bowl and not on the head of someone who doesn’t understand the concept of a prank,” the text on the video reads.

In the caption of her post, Amin goes into more detail about why the Egg Crack Challenge isn’t appropriate for kids. “Pranks like this can be funny. Especially if done by an adult to another adult. I have seen some married couples prank each other and it’s funny,” she writes.

“But, the adult has better cognitive processing skills to understand that it’s a prank—children this small don’t. This development takes time (think 11 years and up). The concept of pranks and who we can do pranks to, what’s allowed, consent and limits,” she adds.

When it comes to toddlers, Amin says they surely won’t understand the concept. All they will understand is that their parent hit them on the head with an egg and laughed. Her advice when it comes to viral trends and pranks overall—“we don’t do pranks on people who don’t understand the concept of a prank and we don’t do pranks that can be harmful towards someone.”