Parenting Done Badly - Pranking Kids Just To Make A Viral Video

Parents do you remember what the holidays were like for you as kids?

Birthdays were where the family got together and marveled at how much you'd grown and Aunty Linda made you a purple dinosaur cake and people kept throwing presents at you and grandpa kept sneaking sweets and money in your pocket with a "Don't tell your mum or grandma" There were games, candles, cake, more sugar and of course that kid from down the road thew up in the rose bushes but was a hero on Monday morning at school because he drank 16 cups of fizzy in a row !!!  

Of course this is the best of memories and there are those who didn't have it so good, whether it was an abusive household thing or a foster care gone wrong thing, or an extremely poor home thing, some people weren't that lucky.  

Now we have the "Prankster Parents" those who seem to think that parenting advice should be taken from some brainless dick on TV who says "if you do this to your kids and send in the video we will show the best of them and you will win your 2 seconds of fame and a viral video and maybe some dumbass piece of crap plastic and some money". 

Let me tell you just what you are doing to your kids when you do this. 

1. You are telling your kids the brainless dick on TV is more important than they are !!!

The majority of videos showing the Halloween prank where parents tell their kids they ate all their Halloween candy then goes on to show the kids reactions and the parents laughing their brainless butts off at their kids telling them "but brainless dickhead on the TV said I should". Do you remember your mother telling you that if brainless dickhead told you to jump off a cliff it probably wasn't such a good idea. Well guess what you just jumped off the cliff Prankster Parents !!! 

If ANYONE else on the planet did something similar to your kids you would be the first to jump to their defence shouting "BULLY" but you know what ... You did it instead. You have now taught your kids, who look up to you like you are God, that they and their feelings are less important than the brainless dick on TV. In fact you have just told your kids. You don't love them enough to protect them and their emotion well-being from brainless dicks.  Because guess what, you have just proved yourself to be a brainless dick in the eyes of your kids. Congratulations !!! 

2. You are telling your kids you have no intention on protecting them from emotional abuse !!! 

When we are grown and know of friends that are being emotionally and verbally abused by a partner, whether they are female or male. What's the first thing you do ??? Tell them to leave ? Tell them to throw them out? Tell them to get the hell out of Dodge? Tell them to get help?  

If it was your child would you not have to hold back the urge to drive the hell over there and beat the living crap out of the idiot hurting your baby !?! 

So what gives you the right to do it in the form of a "Prank". 

What in this exact moment makes you any different to any would be abuser in their future ? 

I have seen comments saying "I'm toughening them up" well actually what you are doing is teaching them that emotional and verbal abuse is ok and completely normal, so when some brainless dick comes along and completely gaslights them to a place where they can't understand their life anymore. Just remember.... Your prank ... taught them it was ok. 

Congratulations "Prankster Parent" you have just groomed your own child into a world of abuse. 

3. You are teaching your children you cannot be trusted with the important stuff !!! 

If you remember back to being a kid, it's pretty hard to talk to your parents about the big stuff. If fact it can be a nightmare talking to them about the little stuff. The first conversation skills come from you the parent. Which is why little kids learn to talk like their parents do as they learn by example. As kids get older and go to school they start learning from teachers and other kids. This is when the our long conversation about what bag everyone has in school goes to, "I dunno" as the answer of choice. 

If you teach your children from a young age that they can have their entirely inane jabberings and you have at least one ear open to it all the time this is less likely to happen. However brushing them off and telling them "not now I'm getting dinner" or "I'm busy" is not going to make them want to come and talk to you, not abut anything. 

Of course pranking them completely builds a wall of distrust that may never be brought down. Not only have you lied and cheated, but by filming it and putting it on YouTube or Facebook or whatever, you have shared their shame with the world....of course we sensible people are horrified and we know you're the brainless idiot .... and in each and every video that's out there, there is one moment when you can see that YOUR child has just realized that too. 

Roll forward to their teens, their friend or they are in a situation they cannot handle. You've taught them they can't come to you, you are no longer a trusted person in their lives. Oh and if you yell at them when you find out the thing... that makes you the biggest brainless dick going... in fact graduating you to ... cue drum roll 

"Brainless Dick of the Year!!!" 

YAY !!!! Applause* Confetti* 2 minutes of fame 10 years ago* 

4. You are teaching your children you cannot look after their physical needs!!!

When we are little we are told to ask for what we want. We are told if we are hungry we ask for food. If we are thirsty ask for a drink. At what point does it become ok to behave like a complete brainless dickhead and teach your child that they can't ask you for anything because you are going to do the complete opposite or "Prank" them whilst gifting on a family gathering. 

Now don't you start saying "but I'm not going to get my kid everything they ask for!!!" and no you shouldn't but you don't shame your child in front of family and friends at a major holiday to prove your point. 

Oh and like it needs to be said, You don't put that shit on YouTube either !!! AssHat!!! 

Our kids spend their first few years with us full time, when they ask for stuff they get it. 80% of the time. Because little Johnny is not getting to get to play in your brand new mixer with your lovely knives. We get down to their level and explain why and then they tend to be satisfied and find something else to drive us crazy and make us fear for their safety. 

When they go to school.. The first couple of years are the same. Then it starts to change. Now if your parenting hasn't changed that helps them decide that you are ok and they are safe at home no matter what happens at school. But change your parenting to keep up with the school and all of a sudden your kid is going to be out of their depth and unable to paddle. Especially when they get to high school where they are encouraged not to ask questions, just to sit down, shut up and only put your hand up if you are bleeding, vomiting, bones are broken or your dying, even then you take a risk !!!

If you prank your kids at this point in their lives you are not "teaching them they don't always get what they want in life" you are teaching them you cannot be relied upon to ask for what they need in life. For example, new clothes, new uniform, new pencils, a laptop or tablet to help with their schoolwork, a ride home at 4am because their date dumped them in the middle of nowhere and they are scared, tired and unsure where they are. 

When a kid asks you for something you can't afford, don't laugh at them or humiliate them publicly in front of family and friends and worse still in front of the whole world, who can visibly see the moment they make the realization you have made a fool of them and broke their hearts.  The kids aren't pissed they didn't get the thing, they are pissed because you let them believe that's what they were getting !!!

Kids understand more than you know and right now they understand you are Brainless Dick Of The Year, oh and an AssHat. Yes it will be all over school and guess what only the other bullies in school will find it amusing. You know the kids like you only smaller!!! The others will sympathize with your kid for having such savage parents!!! 

Yeah going swimmingly so far right "Prankster Parents" 

5. You are teaching your kids you aren't the parent, they are the adult!!! 

You teach respect, loyalty, honour and all things. It has to be earned. It is NOT something that just happens because "I'm the parent and what I says goes". If you have been emotionally and verbally abusing your kid by bullying them in this way .... 

WHY THE FUCK SHOULD YOUR KIDS RESPECT YOU !?! 

In that one or maybe more thoughtless, selfish moments you have taught your child that you are the kid and they are the adult because at this point, they are. You certainly have no respect coming your way from them and nor do you deserve it. No amount of yelling and screaming in their faces is going to change that, nor is any amount of punishment in a "Do as I say and Not as I do" house.

The act of pranking is a kids thing, adults don't do it unless it is something like a spring snake out of a jar of peanuts, or disguising one gift as a different shape or something that isn't actually going to cause quite probably irreparable trauma for life in some way.

Think about that while you sit in the old peoples home, watching the spider spin his web in the corner whist the other residents meet their visitors of all ages!!!

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We teach our kids to be good and kind, but if we force them to bring themselves up because we as parents can't be trusted to be the adults, our kids will work out their own way. That will be 50/50 to how they turn out. Don't give them a reason to fall just because you want your 20 seconds of fame. Their lives are worth more. Oh and you don't want to be seen as Brainless Dick of the Year cos if your boss sees it and recognizes your voice or kid you could end up loosing your job over it, or worse as emotional abuse is now illegal in the UK.