Mum’s Cheerios ‘edible sand’ trick has parents raving

Parenting is one of life’s greatest challenges. It doesn’t come with a manual, but it does come with unsolicited advice from all corners.

And let’s face it, nobody wants the advice, but you can always try to make the most of it. Having someone at the school gates offer behavioural management advice while their child eats gravel behind them is, at the very least, pretty funny.

When it comes to keeping your kids happy, safe and, preferably, at conversation volume, it’s difficult to find solutions that won’t encourage maladaptive behaviours.

Just crush these bad boys up and you've got yourself an edible sand substitute (Magone/Getty Images)

For example, you wouldn’t want to inadvertently encourage your kid to eat sand, right?

Well, as it turns out, that risk outweighs the rewards of one hack shared online. At least, as far as the commenters are concerned.

Kids love shoving random stuff in their mouths, largely because it’s a major part of how they learn about their environment. While that’s all well and good, you don’t want them eating things they might choke on, or things that might make them ill.

One of those things is sand – putting a kid in a sandpit might make them happy as a pig in… mud, but ideally you don’t want them eating the stuff the second you turn your back.

Posting to TikTok, a mum shared how she gets around this potential hazard by making her own edible sand with Cheerios.

Essentially, the much-loved classic cereal gets crushed into a near-powder before being used to fill up a mini sandbox.

The idea took the comments section by storm.

"Yess!! So if she accidentally eats the sand it’s ok bc it’s freaking Cheerios lol," said one commenter.

Another added: "No one said you were allowed to be this smart.”

"Wait, what?” said another. “Holy hell this is genius."

Of course, there is a potential drawback. When a kid goes to the beach and is used to their sand tasting like harmless Cheerios, what’s to stop them grabbing a fistful of granulated stone, maybe with a cigarette butt in there for good measure, and scarfing it down?

"What happened when you go to an actual beach and she eats sand thinking it’s okay..." summed up one comment.

Look at all those crushed Cheerios (skaman306/Getty Images)

You’d have to hope it’s a mistake they would only make once, of course, but it might not be so simple as that. A condition called ‘pica’, where children form a habit of eating non-edible items like sand, sponges, hair, playdough and whatever else, is something to watch out for.

With that in mind, it might be best not to inadvertently encourage kids to eat sand. But hey! That sounded like unsolicited parenting advice. Apologies.