Teen Boy Brags About Tricking Girl By Asking Her Out On Date But His Dad Overhears & Disciplines Him

Sep 14, 2023

With the age of social media in full bloom, pranks are on the rise and come in various forms. While some antics can be considered harmless and just for entertainment, some can go overboard and should not even be considered, as they can mess up a person's self-esteem, giving them anxiety or a long-lasting trauma. 

A lot of people have gone through traumatic experiences brought about by pranks. Therefore, many detest pranks. One such person is a Reddit dad with the username advicedadneeds39, who decided to reprimand his son after he overheard him discussing a prank.

The original poster (OP) shared his story on the AITA community in 2023. The Redditor had overheard his son discussing with his friends how he pranked a girl to go on a date with him. OP felt it was wrong for his son to do so and decided to punish him. However, not everyone in the family agreed with him, and he sought other opinions about the situation and his actions.

He began by explaining that he has three children. At the time he posted this story, his oldest child was in university, while his two other children, a 16-year-old male and a 14-year-old female, were still with him and his wife. 

The dad felt his children were raised well and was proud of them. However, his son portrayed a questionable action that OP thought needed to be curbed. The Redditor explained the situation. He wrote:

"My son recently had some friends over and things were going fine, I went upstairs at one point to bring them the pizza they had ordered when I overheard my son talking about how his friends owed him something for asking a girl in their class out as a prank." 

OP continued to explain that he gathered from his eavesdropping that the girl his son had pranked was someone "his friends didn't deem attractive enough." What the teen father overheard did not sit well with him. He then further explained:

"I decided to talk to my son about it after his friends left to save him from embarrassment. I did raise my voice a little but that was due to how maddening the whole situation was." 

OP was even more particular about the situation because "the same thing had happened to my cousin when we were younger and I saw how the whole thing affected her as she took on new relationships."

Since the Redditor had experienced how a prank such as that can affect a person's life in the long run, he decided to put his foot down on his son's action. OP further wrote:

"My son argued back that it was just a prank that wouldn't hurt anyone and that I was going against him by listening to his friends' private conversations and said that while he felt sorry for my cousin he was 'mature enough' to understand not to pull the prank any further."

OP then decided to ground him for two weeks, but his son felt he was unjust because "the whole thing had nothing to do with me." The Redditor, who thought his wife would have been in support of his decision, explained that his wife claimed "boys will be boys" and that it was a harmless prank. The dad then asked his wife how she would feel if something of such nature was done to their daughter, and she replied, "That won't happen because she has good genes."

The lack of support for his decision did not only come from his wife but also his in-laws, who were "blowing up the family group chat about how I'm hurting their baby for normal teenage boy behaviour." OP then asked if he was the "a**hole" for his decision.

Several people fled to the comment section, decrying the situation. One user wrote, "NTA and thank you for not buying into the 'boys will be boys' bulls**t mentality." Another user had affirmed, "NTA. This is disgusting and I'm glad you're not accepting this as normal." One person commented, "NTA raise your boys to respect woman. I think you handled this appropriately from waiting to speak to him (not embarrass him in front of friends) to a fair and appropriate punishment."

Someone weighed in on the issue while revealing a similar experience, "NTA. Your son sucks and is a bully. I was the target for this kind of 'prank' a lot in school. You know what happened? I ended up withdrawn, with horrible self esteem, not dating anyone because I was afraid it was a joke too…" 

More Redditors sowed tier support for the concerned dad while clamping down on his son's misconduct. One person encouraged the dad while praising him, "NTA. In fact YATH, you are the hero. Boys should learn to be good men. Fighting the good fight shouldn't be such a fight. You are dadding right...and your son, years down the line, will thank you." Many users echoed similar sentiments, calling out the ills of bullying and unsafe pranks.

What measures do you think the dad could take to curb such behavior and convince the rest of the family? Have you ever witnessed unpleasant pranks? Let us know, and be sure to pass this on to others.