Just when you thought we were done with dangerous and destructive Tik Tok challenges, police are warning parents about another one: The TikTok Door Knock (or Kick) Challenge. Like many other challenges in the past, this one can cause damage to property and post a serious threat to the kids participating in it.
What is the Door Knock/Kick Challenge?
According to Distractify, door kick challenges have been around for a couple of years. While there are many variations of this trend, they all involve participants knocking or kicking people’s doors, often in the middle of the night, and then running away.
Distractify reports that in 2021, the “kick door challenge” involved kicking someone’s door twice to the beat of “Die Young” by Kesha and running away. This version persisted through 2022, and spread through colleges and neighborhoods.
In 2023, the trend evolved with many videos showing participants simply kicking people’s doors in. The purpose is not breaking and entering, but the acts have caused damage to people’s doors.
Growing Concern About the Dangers
This was the case in Friendswood, TX where local police are warning parents to speak with their children about the harms this trend can cause. Fox 26 Houston reports that several kids in Friendswood have been caught on camera carrying out the challenge. They interviewed a 77 year old victim of the challenge, Gwen. She says that she was awakened in the early hours of the morning by kids banging and kicking on her door. The actions terrified her and caused $2500 in damage to her door.
“All of a sudden I heard this boom, boom and the front wall, everything shook, and I looked up, and I saw kids running past my window. These are the pieces that were cracked off the bottom of the door frame, and it’s totally ruined,” Gwen told Fox26 Houston.
Someone is Going to Get Shot
Police are warning that the kids participating in this stunt could be in serious danger. Startled homeowners could react violently. This is especially true if the homeowner is also a gun owner.
“This is a very dangerous game, very dangerous game…I’m afraid a homeowner may think someone is trying to burglarize their residence and some innocent kid can get shot or killed,” warned Friendswood Chief Deputy Evans, who isn’t the only law enforcement fearing this dangerous take on ding, dong, ditch.
In fact, in gun-enthusiast forums like AR15.com, bloggers are posting warning, threats, and even hoping kids try the prank at their homes. Comments reacting to a story often reflected this poster’s sentiments, “One of these kids is gonna get hurt. “Someone’s gonna shoot” I hope so.
It’s not clear how widespread this trend is, but given that 40% of Ohio households have guns and fear of the trend is growing, law enforcement is urging parents to speak with their kids about this not so harmless prank.