A 12-year-old boy in Colorado is brain dead after what appears to be a dangerous trend on the social media site Tik Tok.

It's called the Blackout challenge and dares people to choke themselves until they lose consciousness.

The family is now forced to prepare to say goodbye to their son but hopes their story will inspire others to talk about these challenges and how to protect others from experiencing what they are now going through.

21 News has shared advice from childhood experts on similar situations in the past, but the information bears repeating even if it saves just one family.

"It just means parents have to be informed," said Childhood Psychologist Dr. David Chiarella. "I always tell parents it's more than one talk. It's like sitting down every week or two weeks."

Keeping tabs on all the social media challenges and trends, and what your child is or isn't participating in is no easy task for a parent.

And while the solution likely isn't cutting them off from all social media, it is keeping close tabs on their pages and establishing trust through evidence.

"(The child is) going to say, 'You just need to trust me'  and they're not going to look for the evidence," said Dr. Chiarella. "So parents have to say, 'You know, remember last week when I asked you to do this or 'remember last week when you said trust me and I trusted you - What happened? What was the consequence?' And parents need to use both the bad choices and the good choices."

"Communication is always the key," said Dr. John Cox with Wee Ones Pediatrics in Canfield.

Cox said one way to set the boundaries early on for social media is to set up social media pages together.

"So you're involved with it from the very beginning. A lot of times you're preempting these adolescent decisions earlier," said Dr. Cox.

And remember; kids' brains are still not fully developed so they are more likely to take risks, not think about the consequences and act impulsively and even with an active parent trouble can still sneak up.