TikTok’s cookie challenge: Why some children share and others don’t

“The cookie challenge is one of the latest trends to go viral on TikTok. In the challenge, parents test how willing their child is to share a cookie. Typically, two adults and one young child each have a covered plate in front of them.

When the covers are removed, the child has two cookies on their plate, while one parent has one cookie and the other has none. Most children subsequently either keep both cookies or give one to the parent who had none.

The big question these parents are asking is: will my child share their cookies with me?”

Want to learn more?

The Conversation recently published an article on sharing behaviours in childhood written by Dr. Rebecca Merkley (Assistant Professor, Carleton University) and Liza Kahwaji (Master’s student, Carleton University). For example, how do children decide what’s fair? How do parents influence sharing? Are only children less likely to share?

Whether you are a parent, teacher, or researcher, this article is worth the read.