Remember when you were a kid and you would watch something on TV that was a stunt or a trick? During these types of shows, there would often be someone who would turn to the screen and say something like, “Kids, don’t try this at home”?

A lot of times, as adults, it seems obvious not to try certain things at home. We understand danger. We understand that some people are well trained in certain areas and we are not. We understand that sometimes there is a trick being performed that we don’t know how to safely recreate.

Kids don’t always understand things that we think of as obvious. In fact, kids do so many things that are incredibly dangerous. For example, there have been countless dangerous social media challenges like the Tide Pod Challenge and the 48-hour Challenge. Kids and teens don’t understand the risks involved in taking part in these challenges.

An 8-year-old girl named Dhakota watched a magic trick on TikTok, but she thought it was real. In the magic trick, TikTok user gregsabbak puts a die in his mouth, moves it around, and then shows that the die has disappeared. You can only assume that he swallowed it.

Obviously (to adults), he did not really swallow it. It’s all part of a trick. It was not obvious to Dhakota. 

After gregsabbak showed the inside of the mouth to the camera to make it appear that the die was gone, magically, he made the die reappear in his mouth.

Dhakota wanted to try the trick herself. She couldn’t find a die, so she decided to use a quarter. Unfortunately, she really swallowed the quarter, and it got stuck in her throat. She could hardly breathe.

Her parents rushed her to the emergency room. They had to visit two hospitals before a doctor was willing to see her. She was kept overnight for an emergency procedure to remove the quarter.

Dhakota’s father told WDIV, “I didn’t know how bad the situation was until they brought the X-ray back and I saw the quarter right there in her esophagus. It killed me, man.” He added, “This could happen to any child.”

We’ll refrain from showing you the magic trick. Take our word for it: don’t try this at home. Parents, please pay close attention to what your children are watching on social media and warn them about the dangers of these online challenges.

Dhakota is now out of the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.