A new trend has emerged on TikTok in the last few weeks. It involves breaking an egg on your child’s head, a joke that toddlers often don’t understand because their sense of humor isn’t developed enough to find it funny.
According to the British media BBC, videos with the tag #eggcrackchallenge had reached almost 75 million views on the social network TikTok on Thursday. While some children find the joke funny, many react by crying or indicating that it hurt them while the parents start laughing.
First, most young children don’t understand the kind of humor that involves “playing pranks” on an unsuspecting victim, say child psychology experts. So the line between humor and bullying can be thinner than you think, which can make some adults feel uncomfortable with this type of joke.
Although some people think that the funny side of the prank is mistaking the child’s head for a joke, the child is not always able to understand this element of the game.
“Not only are they unable to understand [ce type d’humour] cognitive, but they are also the subject of a joke. And there is a breach of trust,” emphasized Paige Davis, a developmental psychologist at Saint John’s University in York.
Remember that such a prank, when done on an adult or even a teenager, seems funnier because the victim immediately comments on the situation, has not suffered any harm and can quickly start laughing, explained the child psychotherapist and spokesman for the Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP) in the UK, Rachel Melville-Thomas.
“We want to laugh together. Laughing together creates cohesion in social groups. If you fall victim to a prank, [pour que ce soit drôle]You have to join in very quickly and say, “Ah, that was such a clever prank.” It’s hard to imagine how that can happen when you hit someone on the head [avec un œuf]” she added in an interview with the BBC.
Views before emotions
Unfortunately, many parents focus on views and preferences rather than the toddler’s often negative reaction, such as crying.
“Parents place more emphasis on the reward they receive, such as visits, views, likes or other things online, than on thinking about their child’s reaction,” Ms Melville-Thomas said.
“At this moment, your own needs overwhelmingly take precedence over the child’s needs, with consequences. As a mother myself, on many occasions my own needs take precedence over the needs of the child, but not in a way that undermines our relationship – that you can trust me not to hit you.”
The specialist also emphasized that the adolescent may fear that such a situation could repeat itself and that parents who participate in such a trend could ruin their relationship with the child.