In an ill-timed misstep of comedy, a father found himself in a precarious situation; the consequences of his prank were not only met with disappointment by his son, but lasting consequences from the son’s overprotective mother, as explained in a Reddit post.
*This is a work of non-fiction sourced from social media discussion boards and verified experts/specialists.*
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The father starts his story by explaining that he and his daughter, 10, were passing time at his home while his wife worked late and his son, 9, was out with a friend. The two decided to have some fun, and decided to prank the 9-year-old boy. He explains further:
“Around 8 pm his friend's mom texted me letting me know that she was driving him home. I thanked her and then let my daughter know that her brother was on his way. She then suggested that we play a prank on him in which we jump out and scare him. I thought it would be a funny practical joke and--long story short--she and I ended up putting on scary Halloween masks, dimming the lights, and hiding behind a couch. He got home and came in. We heard him come in and say "Hello?" and then come down the stairs. When he got close we jumped out at him and shouted.”
However, what was only meant to be a harmless prank turned into a very bad situation:
“Now; here's where I fully admit I messed up. I thought he'd just be startled for a second and then would laugh with us over the prank. But that's not what happened. We ended up frightening him WAY more than I'd anticipated. He first started running off and then ended up having a HUGE, trembling, crying, adrenaline dump for a long time. I felt really bad and so did his sister. His mother came home not long after and ended up sitting with him, hugging and comforting him. Naturally, she wasn't amused by my antics which I understand because--again--I screwed up.”
According to VeryWell Family, with a situation such as this one, most would agree that parenting styles, parenting history, and individual relationships with the children will all be steeply analyzed in working towards solving the dilemma. Parenting is of course an overwhelming job, with having to make difficult decisions serving as an integral part in it, as detailed by Parents.com.
The mother, upset with the father's ill-timed attempt at comedic mischievousness, has not yet forgiven her husband for what he did. He concludes with:
“My wife has stayed mad at me for all these days afterward. She will barely talk to me. I eventually got tired of it and told her that she needed to get over it. I screwed up but I didn't mean any harm. I just way underestimated how much our prank would scare our son. I also think that our daughter is seeing how she is treating me over it and is being made to feel way too bad over her idea that was just playful; not bad-natured. But she just says that I "should have known better" and won't seem to forgive me.”
What do you think?
Was the author simply making a harmless joke, and his wife shouldn’t still be mad at him, even though the joke didn’t hit its mark?
Or was the author indeed being a terrible father by pulling a prank that would traumatize his young son, and intentionally scaring your child is not humor, but rather emotionally abusive?
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