Why do teens eat Tide Pods and make other bad decisions? Here's what parents need to know, what they can do

Whether it's out-of-control drinking games or the latest social media challenge, teens always seem to be into something that makes absolutely no sense at all.

This month, it's biting into Tide Pods.

“Since our first alert to this life-threatening activity, the trend of intentionally ingesting single-load laundry packets has increased in its popularity despite repeated warnings,” said Stephen Kaminski, the center's CEO and executive director, in a press release. “... We cannot stress enough how dangerous this is to the health of individuals — it can lead to seizure, pulmonary edema, respiratory arrest, coma, and even death. If you or a loved one misuses a laundry packet or has a question about the risk of exposure to one, immediately contact the national Poison Help hotline."

So, as adults take action to try to curb yet another disturbing trend among teens, parents and others are left to wonder, "Why?"

Why would a teen even considering doing this?

Why does eating a Tide Pod seem appealing?

Why are teens making such dumb decisions?

Why is this even a thing?

"Here's the deal: Having a teenager is like having a two-year-old again. Their emotions are bigger than they ever have been before - or maybe not since they were two. They are feeling such depths of sadness and such happiness. The volume on everything has gotten turned up to 11," Zerwas said.

Our brains aren't fully developed until we're 25 or 26, Zerwas said. And, during this period of our lives, the emotion centers of our brains, the parts that regulate emotion, are on fire, Zerwas said. That would be fine if another part of the brain, the frontal lobe, which sort of acts like the boss and is charge of the brain's executive function, was on the job. But it isn't. It hasn't fully developed yet, Zerwas said.

"If the frontal lobe could override those big emotions, that would be awesome," she said. "Unfortunately for us, at the same time their emotions are getting so big, that part of their brain goes offline."

Historically, these undeveloped brains were just what our society needed when people left their homes and married at very young ages.

"Historically, we didn't wait to get married until we were 30," Zerwas said. "We would start partnering up in this period of time. Find a partner, go out, leave our society and do something new and leave the protective embrace of our family. And that made sense back then. Our bodies have not caught up to modern life."

"If you think your peers are watching you, adults get cautious, but teens start doing really stupid stuff," Zerwas said. "They are more impulsive. They are more likely to run that red light. In the past, if you left your teen at home, they might not have access to everyone else. Now, because they have a phone in their pocket, they have 24/7 access to all of their friends and a perceived audience. That's the reason this type of behavior catches on."

Bottom line, said Zerwas: "If you want to create a recipe for a really risky situation for a teenager, give theme access to something that seems like it's cool and put lots of friends around them."

Help your teens by being their manager, Zerwas said - acting as the frontal lobe of their brain, which just isn't up to the task right now.

She recommends these eight strategies for helping your teen steer clear of risky and dangerous behavior.

Talk to them about whatever is in the headlines whether it's the Tide Pod challenge now, a teen driving death or any other risky behavior that they might seem cool in the moment. Tell them where you stand on the subject. And don't think you're one and done with this conversation. Have these discussions on a regular basis.

Not every teenager wants to eat Tide Pods or take part in some risky social media challenge, Zerwas said. For some, just making them aware about what teens might be up to and knowing where you stand, is all they need to steer clear. For others, you'll need to lock up your Tide Pods. Think: "For my son or my daughter, what is the threat level that they may do something like this? That will guide what action you take," she said.

Let them know what's happening to their frontal lobe right now - and other parts of their brain. Tell them why they're feeling so much emotion and joy and, at times, despair.

"Teenagers think, 'I'm going to feel like this for the rest of my life. This is what my future looks like - having these giant emotions and feeling impulses,'" Zerwas said. "Some of it is just saying this isn't going to feel like this always. This is partly a side effect of the fact that you are 15."

"There are real advantages to this part of your life as well," she said. "That those feelings of romantic love are so intense or friendships can seem so meaningful and deep. Or that a movie can feel like the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. You are feeling this world so deeply, and that's awesome. But it also means there is liability along the way."

"There are ways to encourage them to get this risk taking out in a safer way," she said. "Some kids might really need that sense of adventure or sense of thrill. Do they need to try rocking climbing? Even standing on stage and trying to do improv in front of others. Let them have a sense of adventure, just not when they're unsupervised and there is a phone there and a stack of Tide Pods in the laundry room."

"Don't take their word for granted," Zerwas said. "And I don't mean just follow them on Instagram. I mean have their login information. It's not that you don't trust them. It's that you don't trust all of the other people around them. And there will be a time for privacy,  but it's going to be that they have to show you that they've earned it and that you trust their decisions."

"I always recommend taking away phones, iPads, computers," she said. "Electronics get locked up at night. Otherwise, you are giving a conduit to constant friends around your kids all of the time. Just like you wouldn't let your kids go out all night, you shouldn't let them have this much access to their phones all of the time."

"Peer approval and peer opinion is so important at this age - more than any other point in your life," Zerwas said. "So part of leadership as a teen is trying to set that tone for peer approval. When you talk to your kid, it's also about helping them set a context for their friends."

If it's perceived in a group that it's uncool to eat Tide Pods and that it's the stupidest thing they've ever heard about, it's likely they won't give it a try. But, on the other hand, if the group thinks it's funny and it becomes normalized, they might head to your laundry room.

This might be easier said than done, but Zerwas recommends looking for the leaders among your child's circle of friends. It might be your child. It might be another teen, who is influential among their peers. If you know who that kid is, Zerwas recommends seeking them out to influence how they - and the group - feel about a particular topic. But, be careful.

"It could backfire," she said. "You have to really know who that kid is."

In fact, appealing to teens' leaders is where Proctor & Gamble and other groups seeking to stop the Tide Pod challenge could really make an impact, Zerwas said. NFL star Gronkowski, while famous, isn't going to cut it with this crowd.

They need to "recruit the most influential Youtuber to talk about how this is negative," she said. "If that sets the tone, then everything else will fall."