What you need to know about TikTok challenges that are injuring children and how to keep your family safe.

As we continue to see, social networks are taking the world by storm, but not everything TikTok is cute dance videos or funny skits. Parents need to be aware of the darker sides to the social media platform. You might have seen or heard about some recent dangerous TikTok challenges, like the “Devious Licks” or the “Benadryl Challenge.”

The “Devious Licks” challenge encourages kids to steal or damage school property, then anonymously share a video with the hashtag on TikTok. This trend started with a kid stealing masks from school and is now costing thousands of dollars in bathroom and locker room repairs. Urban Dictionary describes a “lick” as “a successful theft which results in an acceptable, impressive, and rewarding payday for the protagonist.” The most common licks in this challenge are stealing soap dispensers, ripping up lockers, and damaging toilets. I recently performed a student assembly on cyber safety at a small private school where two students were caught stealing hand sanitizer to post it on TikTok.

The “Benadryl Challenge” encourages kids to take large doses of the antihistamine to induce hallucinations. The situation has concerned officials at the Food and Drug Administration enough to issue a warning on Thursday against the “serious problems” that can occur if you ingest too much Benadryl. In August, a 15-year-old reportedly died after doing the “Benadryl challenge.”

After these challenges fade, new ones will take their place, so what should we do to keep our kids safe?

1. Have a two-way conversation about social media challenges.

Talking to your child is the number one safety factor in their lives, but why is it so difficult for them to realize these challenges are dangerous? Claire Crooks, psychologist, director of the