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Jimmy Kimmel is at his hijinks again, encouraging parents to prank their kids. This time, as the holidays are upon us, he asked parents to give their kids one present to open early -- but to make a spectacularly awful present. In the highlight reel, we see a few half-eaten sandwiches, an overripe banana, and gifts that boys said were “for girls” and vice versa. The last group had me rolling my eyes super hard, but the reaction from the children was somewhat... appalling.
Well then. I suppose if you’re being a complete jerkface to your children, you deserve to get a little jerkface thrown back at you. Maybe. Or, I don’t know, we could teach our children not to hit. Or even, and I know this is entirely off the wall and radical and just unheard of, but we could also teach them to say thank you. I mean, just maybe.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not against having a laugh at my kids’ expense. Last year, we rented a different beach house than we had the previous two summer vacations. We decided not to tell our sons just to see what their reaction would be as we drove past the old one. In was, in short, priceless. But this whole gift thing kind of crosses a line for me.
It actually reminds me of a Christmas back when my brother was pre-tween age. My grandparents always reused old boxes from gifts gone by, and that Christmas was no exception. My brother pulled the meticulous, pretty wrapping paper off of a box that featured a gravy boat. My brother kind of blinked at it and then said, “Wow! A gravy boat! Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!” The moment went down in family history, and we actually regularly try to find gravy boat boxes to wrap presents in each year. The reason the exchange was so funny was that my brother, who at the age of nine or ten, had no need or desire for a piece of serving wear, said thank you.
Whether your kids are opening a prank gift from you or they’re simply opening another pink nightmare bunny suit from Aunt Clara, they should be taught to say thank you. Or, as a rotten banana is a food product, even “no thank you” would work -- and would be quite deserved. Our children tend to get repeat gifts every now and then as we have such a large family, and instead of saying, “I already have this,” we have taught them to simply say, “Thank you.” With a smile. With feeling.
That’s why I love Lindsey’s (Rewind Revise) cousin Nate. Lindsey shared the video with us on Chatter today and I find it to be the perfect response: STOP BEING A BULLY, JIMMY KIMMEL. (And you parents!) And be polite, with the most adorable smile.
Though, I have to admit that the little girl who was torn about being grateful or not for the peanut butter sandwich made me smile. She had the right idea, and her brother was willing to eat it for her anyway. Those kids are on the right track even if their parents might give into the peer pressure of pop culture a little too easily.
What are your thoughts on the pranking and punking that Jimmy Kimmel is encouraging? What are your thoughts on some of the kids’ reactions? Has your child ever had a nasty reaction to a legitimate gift? How do you handle these things?
Family Section Editor Jenna Hatfield (@FireMom) blogs at Stop, Drop and Blog and The Chronicles of Munchkin Land. She is an editor, writer and photographer. And I promise she has a sense of humor.
