The Choking Game

I'm just going to give you a heads up. This is not one of my happy parenting posts. But I want to let other parent's know that this is something that needs to be talked about with your middle-schoolers and high schoolers because its real. In fact two years ago a good friend of Todd's actually lost his 16 year old son to the choking game. This morning when I turned on my computer I saw a story about this tragic kids "game" and wanted to post it. Mainly because in every story I have read about this, and when it happened to Todd's friend's son, the common theme is that most parent's have never even heard of this. NPR story

What it the choking game? This is a game that kids play with each other and alone. It is a way to cut off oxygen, through different forms of strangulation, for a period of time and then once released the returning rush of oxygen brings about a "high". This is also referred to as the "safe drug" because kids don't have to take any substances to get the "high", therefore they don't get caught with drugs.

Here are some sites you can look at if you want more information:
GASP
Choking Game
ABC News

While it is unclear how many deaths have been due to the choking game, it has been estimated that between 1995 and 2007, at least 82 kids died as a result. Many times parents don't even know this game exists and how deadly can be.

Sorry for the morbid post today, but this is something that needs to be talked about with kids. Many who play it, think its safe. Another reason to talk with your kids about this is because many of the children who have died from this were thought to have committed suicide. It was not until their friends came out and told parents about this game they were playing that the truth was discovered. Let your kids know that this is not a safe game to play, it can and does lead to brain damage and even death.