Mom blog: Because I Said So! The choking game?

“What’s the choking game?” That was Luka’s first question in the car on the ride to school this morning. Hmmm, he was listening to the news in between reading a book and trying to sneak a peek at Pokemon. There was an item on new figures from a study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) saying that approximately seven per cent of students in grades 7 to 12 are taking part in various forms of the game. Luka is seven years old. He knows not to choke someone because you can die from choking. But what if it’s presented as something fun and exciting? What if Grade 7 is just the youngest grade that was tested, and the game slips well below that age level?

The point of the game is a drugless high: kids choke each other, or choke themselves, letting go at “the right time” to experience a light-headed, dizzy sensation. The sensation is the child’s oxygen-starved brain freaking out.