Public Service Announcement - "Pranking" your kids on Christmas morning

[Alsobrook]

Someone sent me a video of a Christmas morning prank. The prank involved two kids, both of whom unwrapped the same gift....yay, one for each. Then one of them opens the box to reveal that the present inside is not what's on the outside of the box.... the other one got the real thing. The family films this, and continues on with the prank, giving more presents for both to open, while the prank victim does his/her best to hold it together. Emotion takes over and it devolves into tears. Finally, after what seems like an eternity, they make it right. In my opinion, it was mean and awful.

As fun as these pranks can seem when you're hatching your evil plan...intentionally making your kid cry on Christmas morning and laughing about it and filming it and then placing it on the internet is downright cruel. You bring an adult sense of "funny" to the equation... and kids, at least a lot of them, don't have the fully developed sense of humor yet.

Yes, I think there's such a thing as a harmless prank .... but man, some of the crap I've seen recently is just plain terrible. Just please remember to think it through before you take a stab at pranking your kids and then posting it for all the world to see.

 

[jrmasm]

What's the point of having kids if you can't torture them?

 

[wvjules]

Someone sent me a video of a Christmas morning prank. The prank involved two kids, both of whom unwrapped the same gift....yay, one for each. Then one of them opens the box to reveal that the present inside is not what's on the outside of the box.... the other one got the real thing. The family films this, and continues on with the prank, giving more presents for both to open, while the prank victim does his/her best to hold it together. Emotion takes over and it devolves into tears. Finally, after what seems like an eternity, they make it right. In my opinion, it was mean and awful.

As fun as these pranks can seem when you're hatching your evil plan...intentionally making your kid cry on Christmas morning and laughing about it and filming it and then placing it on the internet is downright cruel. You bring an adult sense of "funny" to the equation... and kids, at least a lot of them, don't have the fully developed sense of humor yet.

Yes, I think there's such a thing as a harmless prank .... but man, some of the crap I've seen recently is just plain terrible. Just please remember to think it through before you take a stab at pranking your kids and then posting it for all the world to see.

Do you have a link for the video in questoin?

Also, did anyone see Ditka Claus on ESPN yesterday morning?

 

[Nennie]

Many people have become rather desperate in seeking their 15 minutes of fame, in the hopes that their youtube videos will go viral. It's a shame!

 

[Handbag Lady]

Someone sent me a video of a Christmas morning prank. The prank involved two kids, both of whom unwrapped the same gift....yay, one for each. Then one of them opens the box to reveal that the present inside is not what's on the outside of the box.... the other one got the real thing. The family films this, and continues on with the prank, giving more presents for both to open, while the prank victim does his/her best to hold it together. Emotion takes over and it devolves into tears. Finally, after what seems like an eternity, they make it right. In my opinion, it was mean and awful.

As fun as these pranks can seem when you're hatching your evil plan...intentionally making your kid cry on Christmas morning and laughing about it and filming it and then placing it on the internet is downright cruel. You bring an adult sense of "funny" to the equation... and kids, at least a lot of them, don't have the fully developed sense of humor yet.

Yes, I think there's such a thing as a harmless prank .... but man, some of the crap I've seen recently is just plain terrible. Just please remember to think it through before you take a stab at pranking your kids and then posting it for all the world to see.

That's just mean.

Funny is when NEITHER kid gets the iPad (or whatever) and just the box full of underwear.

 

[njmom47]

One year we put charcoal briquettes in our kids stockings.

But....we didn't tape it and send it around the world. And we gave them real presents from Santa (they were probably 5, 7 and 8 that year).

 

[Peanut Giggleface]

I agree OP, that is just mean spirited. Why have kids if you aren't going to love them and teach them there is at least one if not two people they can always trust. I would imagine those kids will always remember that and be a little leery of their parents from now own. Not terribly so, but in the back of their minds they'll think to themselves can I trust this person. It's just wrong and pretty sad.

 

[wiigirl]

What's the point of having kids if you can't torture them?

So true!

 

[mom2rtk]

We made up a certificate telling our 20 year old that a goat and 10 chickens have been donated to a small country in his honor.

It might be funny if he really fell for it, or if we video taped it. Which we won't. We've been giving the same jumper cables to someone here for several years, and they don't fall for that any more either. But it's a lot of fun trying!

I find the prank in the OP to be just mean, out of the spirit of the holiday.

 

[NMAmy]

I don't get why some people are so mean. Hope they've set aside some money for therapy.

 

[wvjules]

I agree OP, that is just mean spirited. Why have kids if you aren't going to love them and teach them there is at least one if not two people they can always trust. I would imagine those kids will always remember that and be a little leery of their parents from now own. Not terribly so, but in the back of their minds they'll think to themselves can I trust this person. It's just wrong and pretty sad.

Yea, they're going to need years of therapy to get over this. Is their mental health worth a few minutes of laughing by their parents? I think not! I think CPS should look into this. Who knows what other torture these parents are inflicting on their children. Saran wrap over the toilet seat? Replacing sugar with salt? Short sheeting their beds? Or *gasp* telling them that they've been lying about Santa, the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc all of these years? Will the horrrors ever end????

 

[Alsobrook]

Yea, they're going to need years of therapy to get over this. Is their mental health worth a few minutes of laughing by their parents? I think not! I think CPS should look into this. Who knows what other torture these parents are inflicting on their children. Saran wrap over the toilet seat? Replacing sugar with salt? Short sheeting their beds? Or *gasp* telling them that they've been lying about Santa, the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc all of these years? Will the horrrors ever end????

Tongue in cheek aside... I certainly recognize that the world didn't end on that video, but I nevertheless found it cruel. I can think of tons of other ways to have a little fun with a Christmas morning prank that doesn't involve purposely making a child devolve into tears and in a sense, holding out until she does so, for the amusement of others.

Yes, kids are resilient and they will "get over it" but it's still really mean.

 

[Tink575]

This is awful. I do admit to arranging our daughter's presents so that the most wished for item was in the back of the tree, and among the last opened. She caught on to this fairly quickly. ;}

 

[joviroxx]

What's the point of having kids if you can't torture them?

LOL! We are practical jokers in this family. Age does not exclude you. If you can't take a joke, you will be miserable. Luckily, we breed senses of humor. Might not put in on the internet, but we'll still laugh at you !!

Funniest is when the kids get the adults!!

 

[Alsobrook]

LOL! We are practical jokers in this family. Age does not exclude you. If you can't take a joke, you will be miserable. Luckily, we breed senses of humor. Might not put in on the internet, but we'll still laugh at you !!

Funniest is when the kids get the adults!!

Nothin wrong with a good practical joke, but my guess is most decent folks don't wait until there's a complete meltdown (and pour salt in the open wound repeatedly) before the gig is up.

 

[acebatonfan]

Coincidentally, I am going to prank DSis17 and DGM79 over Christmas. I ran into a few prank gift box sets at Walmart this morning (http://www.fridgedoor.com/prank-pack-bathe-and-brew-fake-gift-box.html) and am placing their wrapped gifts inside of them. DSis is getting the 1D perfume, and DGM is getting a frame with my senior pictures in it, so it's not like they're getting terrible gifts.

Sadly, youngest DSis saw me wrapping up the prank boxes and told DSis that I am going to prank her. She better watch, or I will prank her instead.

 

[Jennasis]

I HATE those practical jokes. They're cruel and unnecessary on what should be a joyous day. I was the butt of one of those as a kid. It still smarts. At the very least, if you MUST torment your kid, don't video tape it and put it on the internet.

 

[worm761]

I am all for a good practical joke but that sounds just mean and cruel.

My evil plot for Christmas....DS17 is getting a few things for Christmas to open but his big gift is cash. I bought a labyrinth puzzle cube and put the money in that. I plan to wrap that and then place it in a weighted box and wrap that up too. It took DH almost a half hour to open that stupid cube so I could put the money in. DS will find it funny though.

 

[threecrazykids]

My uncle used to do this to us when we were little. He was just known for being the prankster. There was always one of us who opened a present and thought "what the....??". He went through all the kids at some point and it was never anything REALLY mean. He always got us the awesome gift we wanted but first someone had to get burned with the "wth" gift first.

The best year I can remember was when my youngest brother (probably about 6 at the time) was SOOOO excited to open the biggest box under our Grandma's tree because it was his. He ripped into that packaging and it was a plain cardboard box. My uncle had wrapped up an afghan he'd found at a garage sale.

We older kids all knew immediately he'd been duped and we all "ooh'd and aah'd" over it saying "oh WOW - that is really nice!" and acted like it was the real deal while we opened our toys. He sat there and stared at us with this look like "what the heck is wrong with you guys - no kid wants an afghan!"

He walked over to my uncle and quietly said "thank you very much for the blanket, I like it, but are you sure this wasn't meant for Grandma?" DU would always play it off like "oh darn it, did I mess up your present with Grandma's?"

We all broke out into laughter while my uncle reached around the back of the sofa and brought out a box almost identical...but this time it was the He-Man Skeletor Castle he'd been hoping for that year!

He to this day laughs with my uncle about that gift - but he didn't take it to the extremely mean level like it sounds like these parents did...it was really all in good fun.

 

[rszdtrvl]

I agree it is cruel. Kind of reminds me of the $400 "PS3 BOX" on ebay and how disappointed people were when they realize they were duped.

My son's most wanted gift is wrapped up in fancy gold paper. It is a larger than needed box because I put 3 additional items in it that go with it.

I know he will make a beeline for that box! And he is meant to do so.