Controversial Holiday Trend: Children Traumatized by Parents Dressing up as Grinch and Stealing Their Gifts

TikTok viral video Parents' Pranking Their Children Grinch Children Traumatized by Viral Prank Controversial Holiday Trend childhood trauma

By Jo Anne Hubert , Parent Herald Dec 25, 11:05 pm

Photo: (Photo : GETTY IMAGES/Kevin C. Cox)

Parents spark backlash as they dress up as Grinch and steal their kids' Christmas gifts, leaving them distressed.

It's a nightmare before Christmas for children whose parents are joining the bandwagon of a controversial holiday trend or prank, leaving them screaming and crying as their parents dress up as the popular character who stole Christmas - the Grinch and stealing their Christmas gifts from under the tree.

Though funny, the prank videos that have gone viral have led to criticism from other parents and some viewers who stressed that the joke could be traumatic to the kids and lead to serious future anger issues.

Despite the disagreements and reactions, some parents and families continue to use the prank either as a punishment or for "comedic purposes," as they can be heard laughing at their kids in the videos.

Cruel or not?

The videos are sparking a huge debate in the internet world about whether it is cruel to kids.

Almost all the videos had the children crying in the end as they ran for their lives, frightened at what they had just witnessed. In a few videos, the kids froze in sheer panic as they tried to navigate through their fear and confusion and understand what was happening, the Daily Mail reported.

One boy courageously attempted to fight back in one instance, only to lose and cry as his and his brother's gifts were taken away.

One comment from one of the videos stated that they do not understand why anyone, especially a parent, would want to upset the kids like that.

Another comment questioned parents, stating how it can be a happy holiday if what the children got for Christmas was post-traumatic stress disorder.

The problem with the prank

"It's never a good idea to deliberately scare your kid unless you are scaring the kids for the hiccups. Such pranks can affect children's feelings of safety, trust, and predictability in the future. Since kids may not have the capacity to understand what a prank means, they can end up asking themselves what did they do to deserve this and blaming themselves," a practicing psychoanalyst in Berkeley, California, Jessica Broitman, Ph.D., declared.

Further, the doctor agreed with other parents' reactions that many of the kids in the videos are not yet old enough to understand that it was just a prank and gave their parents consent to post their scared faces online for the whole world to see.

Broitman reminded parents that whatever they do must be "age and developmentally appropriate" for their children.

Further, Forbes stated that children's brains can be likened to "moldable plastic," not yet fully formed, making it sensitive to what they experience in their daily lives.

A study published in 2021 under Translational Psychiatry showed how childhood trauma can create "real subsequent structural changes in the brain," which can have a "wide range of long-lasting reverberating negative health effects."

Thus, parents are warned to be very careful in deciding what they want their children to experience.

As Bruce Y. Lee of Forbes wrote, instead of scaring the children, laughing at them, and posting it on social media this holiday season, parents should spend their time with their kids instead. Put down their phones and devices and get some "real likes" from their children.