Jimmy Kimmel's Halloween Candy Prank: Harmful Parenting?

Late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel introduced a prank several years ago that parents can play on their children, and he encouraged parent viewers to video the prank and then send the videos to the show to be shown on national television. Specifically, the prank is known as the "Halloween Candy Prank," and it involves parents telling their young children the morning after Halloween that the parents ate all their candy. Understandably, children on the receiving end of this prank get extremely upset. Videos of the prank show children as young as toddlers screaming and crying, or even trying to hide or stave off tears in front of their parents who just shared the distressing news. When his show has shown such videos in years past, the audience rejoices in fits of laughter. Are we sure this is funny?

I recently discussed this issue on the HLN television show, Across America with anchor Carol Costello. I explained on the show that the age of the children matters most in determining whether this prank is harmless or harmful. Under the age of 10 years, this prank should be avoided.

A child's understanding of humor is based on their relative level of brain development. It makes sense, for example, that a 5-year-old and his adult parent have entirely different senses of humor based on their respective levels of brain development and life experiences. Research supports this assertion as seminal research by McGhee (1971) established long ago that children's comprehension of humor increases as age increases. For this reason, parents pranking their children should be avoided in young children because young children simply cannot comprehend the so-called humor.

While this prank can be harmful, parents and therapists alike should not exaggerate the negative effects. As this popular TV prank has been discussed in the media and at water coolers far and wide, some may be tempted to suggest that this type of prank by a parent to a young child is so distressing that it reaches the level of a psychologically traumatic experience for the child. However, having worked with children in the community mental health system for 20 years, I can share that calling this type of prank a trauma betrays the true definition of a psychological trauma. With this prank, the injury (the candy being eaten) is actually corrected with the truth (the parent was joking, after all). With true psychological trauma, there is no immediate correction of the harm or injury. Children who experience chaotic and sudden separations from their parents aren't typically reunited moments later; children who watch siblings or parents lose their lives simply have to sit with and accept that their loved one is gone.

Ultimately, the best rule parents can follow with parenting is to always be mindful of the fact that their young children's brains comprehend situations differently, and that parents must treat their children's developing minds delicately.