justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

Childhood Pranks

Throughout history, children have been known to engage in what is commonly called “pranks.” The latest in this long history of “children being children” is currently receiving major attention in the press and media. It has to do with a product used for clothes washing, the Tide Pod.

An article appeared just recently in the January 13^th edition of the Huffington Post, titled There's A Really Dumb Reason Why Some Teens Are Eating Tide Pods.

Last week, I experienced this craze in my 6th-grade class in a middle school in California. To be honest, I’d not yet heard of this new version of the Tide Pod Challenge taking place, but there one was, a Tide detergent pod, in bright shining colors, sitting on my student’s desk. As my class was settling in for the day’s work, I then heard my student ask, “Who took my Tide Pod?”

The Tide Pod didn’t turn up, and I had a chat with the student concerning why it was not good to bring one to school, regardless of what he was intending to do with it.

An additional article on CNN’s website brought home the dangers of this “prank.” Take a look for yourselves at http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/18/technology/tide-pod-challenge-video-youtube-facebook/index.html.

Also, the Facebook social media site has made the decision to take down all postings of students ingesting these pods, and won’t be posting any new ones.

Would it be too much to ask that Tide change the colorful packing of these products to make them a little less attractive? Or, is that missing the point regarding children from the beginning of time putting things in their mouths and also engaging in “pranks” because they’re “kids.”

What do you think – or are you tempted to engage in this prank, just because?