PARENTS have been urged to beware of the latest TikTok trend posing a risk to their kids.
Sophie-Rose Owens, 12, was left “scarred for life” after following the viral challenge, her mum Emma-Louise warned.
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Emma-Louise, 34, from Cardiff, admitted to feeling like a “terrible parent” after she rushed Sophie to hospital with horror burns.
She had tried to make a popular TikTok treat by heating sugar and water in a microwave – before coating fruit in the sticky substance to make it crunchy.
She told how Sophie put a jug filled with sugar and water in the microwave for two minutes.
When she went to take it out, the boiling syrup mixture burned through the bottom of the jug, dripping across her hands and feet and causing her to scream out in pain.
Her mum said: “There was a trail of syrup on the floor in the kitchen. She was screaming ‘burn, burn, burn’ and I said ‘put your hand in cold water’.
“Then a massive blister formed on her foot instantly.”
Emma told how she felt “terrible” as the family rushed Sophie to a nearby hospital.
Emma said: “Sophie had seen this new trend on TikTok – all her friends were doing it.
“I’d seen it on social media, celebrities had been doing it and it looked good.
“I knew it was a new trend that was going around where people were glazing fruit.
“She approached me on a Friday night and asked if she could do this.
“I said ‘no, you’re not using the oven’, but she said there’s this video which shows you can do it in the microwave.
“At the time my mum was calling me so I said yes you can do it in the microwave, just be careful.
“I didn’t understand the actual context of it and I do feel like a terrible parent.”
Emma-Louise said her husband’s “face dropped” after he ran down the stairs to the terrifying scene.
She added: “My husband came downstairs and I told him she’d done this trend with sugar water and his face just dropped. He said this is what they use in prisons to scar people.”
The method is known as a ‘prison napalm’ – a technique used as a weapon by prisoners as the deadly liquid sticks to the skin and intensifies burns.
Emma-Louise called for TikTok to include disclaimers warning parents how dangerous trends can be.
She added: “Kids just absorb everything from online. This could’ve been so much worse. I wanted to let other parents know the dangers of this. I don’t want this happening to another person’s child.”
The Sun has approached TikTok for comment.
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