A mother warns about the “fire truck game”, what is this practice which targets girls in certain playgrounds? : Current Woman Le MAG

It is not uncommon for parents or teachers to warn of dangerous “games” being played by certain children in playgrounds. We can recall the Skull breaker challenge, which can be literally translated as “the skull breaker challenge”, the “staircase game”, or even the “comma game”, which consists of twisting the neck of ‘a comrade by surprise.

In a video posted on the social network TikTok, an American mother is worried about a game that is spreading in her daughter’s playground. In a video viewed more than 2.5 million times, the mother explains that her 11-year-old child revealed to her that a game called “fire truck” is growing in his school.

“Fire truck game”: what is this “game” that ignores the notion of consent?

“Public Service Announcement to Parents of Middle School Children: My 11-year-old daughter just informed me that boys are playing a game called ‘the fire truck game’” she presents in her video published on her TikTok account, where she is known under the pseudonym @the.funy.nurse.

The mother then describes how the game played out, using the words of her 11-year-old daughter. “A boy puts his hand on a girl’s lower thigh and says, ‘My hand is a fire truck, I’m going to slowly move it up. But when you feel uncomfortable, you say ‘red light’. And you know what these little c… do? They say, ‘Sorry, fire trucks don’t stop at red lights.’ And they move their hand up until they touch the girl’s crotch”.

In her video, the mother calls for “do better to teach our boys not to touch girls and our girls that it is okay to have limits.”

Consent, sexuality: how to approach the issue with your child?

So, how do you approach the subject of consent with younger children? Near West FranceNicole Catheline, child psychiatrist, indicates that“Children must be told that they have the right to be curious, but they must not be to the detriment of others. The more parents take the time to talk about it, the better it will be.”

In a previous interview with Current wife, Caroline Le Roux, clinical psychologist and sexologist, explained that when you approach this subject with your child, it is important to make children aware of the notion of consent and the fact that their body belongs to them. “When a child begins to be independent, you should not hesitate to tell him that his body and his privacy belong to him. No one has the right to touch him without his permission.”.

Sources:

• @the.funy.nurse – TikTok
• What is this dangerous “fire truck game” that is spreading among children? – Ouest-France (April 16, 2024)