Campbellton parent warns of harmful 'eraser challenge'
Woman's 9-year-old son has burn-like marks on his arms from the game
A Campbellton mother took to Facebook to warn other parents about a game called "the eraser challenge."
She posted images of burn-like markings on her nine-year-old son's arms from the game he joined in while on the way home from school.
"They take their rubber eraser and they rub it on their arm as long as they can to [see] either who can shorten their eraser the most or who can go the longest without crying," Melissa Parent, the mother who made the post said by phone Tuesday.
She said the result was an injury that looked like a scab where the eraser had rubbed on her son's skin. He blamed the marks on a fall, although they were on the tops of his hands.
"It was like if you would fall on pavement and you skid your knee, it would take like the first skin off you," she said.
Parent said she did not know how many kids at her son's school took part, although she heard about the game from another parent whose son had participated.
"They had seen the other kids doing it on the bus, then the middle school kids were doing it, then the little kids wanted to do it because they want to be cool."
School board officials did not respond to questions from CBC News.
A warning
Parent said she wanted to warn other parents about the game, not just because of the immediate injuries it causes but also the potential to transmit germs and blood.
"Say if you do it on your arm and you draw blood and then I take your eraser and do it on my arm to see how long I can go," she said. "There could be a transfer of blood there. You don't know what other people have in their blood. … So it's kind of dangerous to do that."
Parent said she hopes her post shows other parents the dangers of some schoolyard games but also the importance of talking about them.
"Make sure your kids feel safe to talk to you," she said. "Educate them on germs and sharing certain things that can contain blood and stuff. It's so dangerous."