You’ve probably seen loads of people getting into hot water over “pranks”. They always pan out the same way – someone does something stupid (bonus points if it’s dangerous or even life-threatening!), gets caught in the middle of it, and usually goes on repeating “it’s just a prank, bro” as they are getting picked up by the police or assaulted by the victim of their prank.

A daughter decided to play a similar prank on her mom: when coming home from being hospitalized, she had her friend call in, telling her mom she had passed. It went as well as you could guess.

More info: Reddit

Sometimes pranks can go way too far and even cause too much harm to undo

Image credits: RODNAE Productions (not the actual image)

A poster wanted to know whether they are a jerk after kicking their 21 y.o. daughter out of their home after a cruel prank

Image credits: u/Federal_One_3525

Image credits: Anastasia Shuraeva (not the actual image)

The prank was that a friend called in after the daughter was hospitalized to tell mom she had suddenly passed on

Image credits: u/Federal_One_3525

It turned her into an inconsolable wreck for 30 minutes, after which the daughter suddenly came home, but the mother refused to see her, at least for a while

A 49-year-old mom’s 21-year-old daughter had been hospitalized for an extreme emergency and stayed in the hospital for 4 days, visited by her mom daily, except for the last day. On the last day, the daughter’s roommate called mom, saying that her condition suddenly worsened and she passed.

This obviously shook the mom up, severely upsetting her. When her daughter suddenly came home saying “April Fools,” the mom said the prank was horrible and told her to leave. The worst part was that it took about 30 minutes for them to get home, meaning the mom was in agony for the entire time.

The daughter tried to come back for Easter, but mom wasn’t having it and told her to get out of her sight, which has created a conflict in the family.

The mom emphasizes that she will allow the daughter in her home at some point, she just needs some time to get over it.

But why is April Fools’ even a thing? Why do people prank others? What if someone’s pranks keep upsetting you? We’ll attempt to answer these questions and more in the article.

According to the History website, some historians speculate that April Fools’ dates back all the way to 1582.

France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian one and the start of the year had moved to January 1st instead of April 1st, coinciding with the spring equinox. People who were slow to catch on to this were the butt of jokes and hoaxes. This even included paper fish placed on their back called April fish (poisson d’avril) to indicate a young, easily caught fish – a gullible person.

Image credits: Zhviko Minkov (not the actual image)

This tradition progressed and as it spread throughout Britain and the world, it even became a two-day event in Scotland. During this celebration, people would go on phony errands as they looked for the gowk – a cuckoo bird and symbol for a fool. On the second day, Tailie Day would occur, when they would play pranks on people, such as pinning tails and “kick me” signs on people. 

The festivities continue to this day, with brands and celebrities participating in variously elaborate pranks, as per this other Bored Panda article.

According to the New York Times, psychologists have studied pranks extensively, especially in the context of bullying or worse. Their findings are that more often than not, pranks are ways to integrate people into communities as a part of modern ritual.

Various cultures have rituals of being scared or pranked in obscure ways as a show of bravery or humility. For example, the Daribi of New Guinea have their young make and bury a box, telling them treasure will appear in the box, but they mustn’t peek inside the box before the time is right.

The young ones usually can’t contain themselves and open the box – only to find a bit of excrement inside. Thus, they may be used to maintain boundaries, gain status, or can even work as a self-check on arrogance, after being duped. 

At the end of the day, a good prank is only a simulation of crisis, only briefly affecting the person. If your prank is only funny to you, but not your victim, it’s likely closer to bullying and abuse than to what an actual prank is.

Image credits: Baylee Gramling (not the actual image)

But it’s not always fun and games, according to Psychology Today. It turns out that pranks may cause trauma, be used to gain power and control and constitute a form of psychological abuse. You should know that you have the right not to be pranked. You should be able to speak up if you have been hurt by a prank and if you witness injustice being perpetrated by someone else.

The people that play the prank may attempt to gaslight you by saying that you’re “too sensitive” or “can’t take a joke,” but in reality, they just may not want to accept that their behavior is insensitive.

In a perfect world, they would apologize to you after you express that you’ve been hurt, but they also may not. If they refuse to be kind to you and accept their failings, you may want to set harsher boundaries or even minimize your contact with the person. 

Embolden Psychology suggests some questions that should be asked before any prank. Has the target of the prank been upset in the past and expressed it? Do the pranks target vulnerable people, such as children or people with mental disorders? Could the prank harm the person psychologically or physically? If the answer to these questions are yes, it’s best to just avoid the prank altogether. 

The original post collected nearly 10k upvotes in a mere two days with more than 2k comments. The community decided that the mom wasn’t a jerk and supported her, mentioning that her daughter may have caused some serious trauma to her and should be happy that the whole situation didn’t end up worse.

The community judged that the poster wasn’t a jerk and told that her daughter should understand that cruel pranks have serious consequences

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