Trick or Trauma? Why Pranking Kids Isn't Funny
Ahead of Halloween, host Sarah Adams explores parenting prank culture and what happens when getting a reaction for the internet takes priority over responding to the child in front of you.
“It’s just a prank.” But who’s actually laughing?
From Jimmy Kimmel’s Halloween candy challenge to TikTok ghost filters and the egg-cracking trend, children’s fear, disappointment and humiliation have become a familiar form of online entertainment. And long before TikTok, family YouTubers were building audiences around the reactions they could get from their kids.
In this solo episode of Parents Uncharted, Sarah Adams, the creator of Mom.Uncharted, explores parenting prank culture and what happens when getting a reaction for the internet takes priority over responding to the child in front of you.
With Halloween approaching, Sarah asks where playful family humour ends and a child’s distress becomes content. She looks at the history of family prank videos, the DaddyOFive case, children’s developing understanding of humour, and the additional loss of privacy when an upsetting moment is shared publicly.
Comedy may be subjective, but a child crying, asking you to stop or trying to escape deserves a response. We don’t need to prove permanent harm before deciding their feelings matter.
Before joining the next trend, ask yourself: Would I still do this if I couldn’t film it? And is this something my child would enjoy, or something I would enjoy watching happen to them?
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Chapters
(00:00) The Impact of Parenting Pranks (05:23) The Evolution of Pranking Culture (10:55) The Ethics of Viral Content (16:05) The Consequences of Pranking Children (21:12) Reconsidering Humour in Parenting
Connect with Sarah Adams:
https://momuncharted.com/
https://www.instagram.com/mom.uncharted/
https://www.tiktok.com/@mom.uncharted
http://parentsuncharted.com/
https://www.instagram.com/parents.uncharted/
https://www.tiktok.com/@parents.uncharted
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