Column: Stop eating detergent

A few weeks ago, I wrote a column that discussed the dangers of teenagers completing challenges they found out about on social media.

It wasn’t more than a week after I wrote about this topic that the national media started reporting about a challenge that was sweeping the nation that involved teenagers eating laundry detergent “pods”.

I honestly could not believe what I was reading as the word about the challenge spread like wildlife on the news and social media.

When I wrote the column I figured there would be a new stupid thing for teenagers to try and emulate, but never in my mind did I think that a select group of them would be eating Tide. I’m not sure if I want to laugh about this, cry about it, or run home and throw away the pods I have because there is a teenager in the house.

I guess there was a day and age where all parents had to worry about was baby proofing the house, and then moving on to things like locking up the alcohol to keep away from teenagers, but this is a whole new level of insanity.

While reading up on the issue, I saw a “meme” that showed a kid with soap in his mouth and said how this used to be a punishment, but now is something that is done for fun. It was funny, disturbing, and very true.

We have a great group of kids in the Whitehall area, so I’m sure that there have not been many kids who have eaten detergent, but if they did, I hope they learned a valuable lesson and will instead just use it to wash a load of laundry rather than it stacking up in a basket in their bedroom.

There are so many great teenagers out there; I’m hoping some of those kids can inspire their generation with challenges that might be a little bit better for society.

How about the “I’m not going to miss an entire day of school” challenge? Every graduating class probably has a few kids that did not miss a day of school and this is inspirational. It would be amazing to see people strive for something like this. This could also include grades, semester tests, or just a challenge to be a better person.

And as for adults, they can always set a better example and it often times starts with their behavior around their kids.

Whitehall is pretty lucky not to have too many of “those parents” who will go to games and yell at referees, make snarky comment, or try to coach way to aggressively from the stands, but it does happen and happens everywhere.

Some of the behavior I’ve seen from parents around the state is disgusting. I’ll be the first to admit that there are certainly some bad calls, but what I’ve heard in gyms or fields across the Western United States is ridiculous.

At a game a few weeks ago, I heard a group of parents trashing their coach, making rude comments about Whitehall, and I just wanted to usher them out of the gym.

If people cannot behave properly, they just shouldn’t go to games, especially high school ones. If I would not have been there in the capacity of the publisher of a paper I would have said something and if I would have heard some of the nasty things that were said to our cheerleaders a few weeks ago I would have.

We shouldn’t have to tell kids not to eat detergent, but we also shouldn’t have to see fans in the stands acting stupid.

Quit screaming at players or referees, and quit eating soap, it’s pretty simple.