"Just a prank, bro", or serious child abuse?

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Well if its true they shoved their kid into a table and busted his nose, then yeah. Emotional reactions can be faked, but that was a legit shove and he legitimately was bleeding. Even if the kid 'agreed' to be shoved for the camera, that's still abuse.

 

[CaitSeith]

Definitely abuse, worst thing is that the abused boy will not get help unless he says something and considering the parents he's scared shitless of that.

Well, no.. There's a thing called safeguarding. Any professional who works with children now has to learn a specific procedure for dealing suspected cases of abuse, and it isn't necessary for the child in question to confirm that they are being abused.

Nowadays, it's generally understood that emotional abuse is often a sign that a child may be be at risk of other forms of abuse (or may indeed already be suffering those forms of abuse), so it is taken a lot more seriously by family services than you might think. The issue is that simply being a bad parent isn't enough to take serious action, there has to be some clear risk to the child.

There is a kind of grey area between when a parent's behaviour towards their child is not "good enough" and where it becomes actual criminal neglect. The video is pretty harrowing and I'm glad it will almost certainly be reported, but whether anything will come of that I'm not sure.

At least can we agree that acting like an abusive parent towards their kids just for the lolz isn't good parenting?

 

[Wolf Hagen]

Such shit makes one wish for a parental / breeding licence.
I mean come on... ones own kids!?

Now I need some kitty vids to forget about this.

 

[Worgen]

I can't wait for the kids to leave the parents to die alone like the total shits they are. Or even better if the kids abuse the parents when they get older... well, maybe not better but it would feel good.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

I don't think I've ever wanted some people to go fuck themselves harder than now. "It's just a prank, bro?" and "Everyone else can take a joke, why can't you?" That's insane. These people are insane. That kid is probably already screwed up because of this. I can't imagine he feels happy going home at all. And yet these parents just keep doing it. Better yet, they told the internet WE are wrong and what they're doing is right because "It's just a prank, bro." If the internet can call the cops to SWAT people, I hope someone gets the idea to call CPP on these fucking nutjobs and get that kid out of there. Let me tell you... Not feeling comfortable or safe to go to a place like home where you SHOULD FEEL SAFE to be at is a horrible, horrible thing

 

[Terminal Blue]

At least can we agree that acting like an abusive parent towards their kids just for the lolz isn't good parenting?

Sure. It's not good parenting, and more importantly as I mentioned its often a sign that a child might be at risk of more serious forms of abuse. I mean, if this is how someone treats their kids in public where people can see, then what happens behind closed doors? If someone is okay with putting their need for entertainment above their child's need to be treated fairly, then what happens when they get angry and need to take it out on someone? Emotional abuse is deadly serious, you should report it and I'm not trying to minimize it by saying that it's "just" emotional abuse, because we don't know that. There is a serious risk.

At the same time though, lots of us grow up with parents who, for whatever reason, are not capable of having a "normal" relationship with a child, maybe because they have addiction or mental health problems, because they're emotional immature themselves, because they didn't really want to be parents and blame a child for problems in their life or perhaps because they were abused or neglected by their own parents and don't know what a normal parental relationship looks like. Growing up with parents like that is shitty, but not enough to get you taken away by Child Protection Services (probably because growing up in care or in the foster system is pretty shitty as well).

So yes. You should definitely, definitely report anything like this which you see going on, because having it on record that a child is potentially at risk may be what saves that child's life down the line, but at the same time it won't necessarily result in immediate action.

 

[CaitSeith]

At least can we agree that acting like an abusive parent towards their kids just for the lolz isn't good parenting?

Sure. It's not good parenting, and more importantly as I mentioned its often a sign that a child might be at risk of more serious forms of abuse. I mean, if this is how someone treats their kids in public where people can see, then what happens behind closed doors? If someone is okay with putting their need for entertainment above their child's need to be treated fairly, then what happens when they get angry and need to take it out on someone? Emotional abuse is deadly serious, you should report it and I'm not trying to minimize it by saying that it's "just" emotional abuse, because we don't know that. There is a serious risk.

At the same time though, lots of us grow up with parents who, for whatever reason, are not capable of having a "normal" relationship with a child, maybe because they have addiction or mental health problems, because they're emotional immature themselves, because they didn't really want to be parents and blame a child for problems in their life or perhaps because they were abused or neglected by their own parents and don't know what a normal parental relationship looks like. Growing up with parents like that is shitty, but not enough to get you taken away by Child Protection Services (probably because growing up in care or in the foster system is pretty shitty as well).

So yes. You should definitely, definitely report anything like this which you see going on, because having it on record that a child is potentially at risk may be what saves that child's life down the line, but at the same time it won't necessarily result in immediate action.

Sorry, I misread the post.

 

[TrulyBritish]

I don't think I've ever wanted some people to go fuck themselves harder than now. "It's just a prank, bro?" and "Everyone else can take a joke, why can't you?" That's insane. These people are insane. That kid is probably already screwed up because of this. I can't imagine he feels happy going home at all. And yet these parents just keep doing it. Better yet, they told the internet WE are wrong and what they're doing is right because "It's just a prank, bro." If the internet can call the cops to SWAT people, I hope someone gets the idea to call CPP on these fucking nutjobs and get that kid out of there. Let me tell you... Not feeling comfortable or safe to go to a place like home where you SHOULD FEEL SAFE to be at is a horrible, horrible thing

Oh, the best part was their response to people saying they were going to call protective services.
"We've already been investigated for the Youtube channel, nothin' was found!"

 

[RaikuFA]

I don't think I've ever wanted some people to go fuck themselves harder than now. "It's just a prank, bro?" and "Everyone else can take a joke, why can't you?" That's insane. These people are insane. That kid is probably already screwed up because of this. I can't imagine he feels happy going home at all. And yet these parents just keep doing it. Better yet, they told the internet WE are wrong and what they're doing is right because "It's just a prank, bro." If the internet can call the cops to SWAT people, I hope someone gets the idea to call CPP on these fucking nutjobs and get that kid out of there. Let me tell you... Not feeling comfortable or safe to go to a place like home where you SHOULD FEEL SAFE to be at is a horrible, horrible thing

Oh, the best part was their response to people saying they were going to call protective services.
"We've already been investigated for the Youtube channel, nothin' was found!"

If CPS didn't find anything from that video, then they're not doing their job.

 

[Smithnikov_v1legacy]

"Just a prank, bro". Where was the humor? What was the joke here? Getting a little sick of people using that kind of shit as a shield from criticism.

"You're the one that causes us problems" WHO put that video on the internet, *****?!

And the footage of the kid bleeding...goddammit, what does it TAKE for someone to step in on this?! You have him on FUCKING FILM pushing a kid and bloodying his nose!

Oh, and to answer "Why does he have 700k subscribers", Edgelords. That is all.This is the internet, where having a conscience and empathy makes you an SJW/Cuckold/Hater

 

[K12]

This would be seriously cunty behaviour if it was one adult to another but to children, and not even older teenagers but primary age children, is serious emotional abuse. Even if you ignore how horrible it is, I don't understand what the joke is supposed to be. We messed up our carpet and screamed at our kid when we knew it wasn't him... where's the punchline?

I worry when I see parents scream at their kids in public because I worry that they might be doing worse things behind closed doors. Not always a fair assumption granted, but with this, they're putting irrefutable video evidence of themselves terrorising their children for fun onto the internet with no shred of shame or embarrassment.

The kids are also acting like this is fairly normal behaviour. Which to me implies they're living in pretty constant fear and anxiety of their parents irrational anger at any minor transgressions. Some of which will be completely fabricated just because they enjoy their seeing their children's emotional distress. If some of those kids have unexplained bruises or disturbingly adult patterns of behaviour then I wouldn't be especially surprised.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Ah yes, the good ole "It's just a prank, bro" chestnut.

Funny.

Really.

Also, I've never wanted so much to be able to reach through the screen and punch someone as much as I did after watching that video. I know child abuse is a very hard claim to make after seeing that child not showing any physical signs of abuse. That's not to say he won't have any emotional or mental issues later in life to do his "wonderful" family. Poor kid, and I really hope that that channel gets taken down or some kind of intervention happens because that's just all kinds of fucked up.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I admit, when I first heard about this I thought "No way that it's that bad as people say. It's maybe in the gray area". Nope. It's a pretty clear case of child abuse. Children are emotionally immature. You can't fuckin' do shit like this and think that it won't have a negative impact later in their life.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

That's not a prank. A prank is hiding the Christmas presents and claiming you forgot it was Christmas. That is abuse. Also the one kid didn't seem all that into it despite the response video.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Oh, the best part was their response to people saying they were going to call protective services.
"We've already been investigated for the Youtube channel, nothin' was found!"

You can't be serious. You CAN'T BE SERIOUS. Fuck that if that's legit

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Oh hey a thread inspired by PhillyD that I didn't make? Fancy that!

But yeah, saw the video was absolutely disgusted. The parents seem dangerously oblivious to what the fuck they are doing, to the point that (after today PhillyD reviewed their Non-Apology) I'm convinced they severely lack self-awareness. I don't know how anyone could look at the clips of themselves treating their kids this way and either

1. not feel like an asshole

or

2. If they're staged (this is to be fair, most Youtube Prank Channels are), how it's not reasonable that people would be concerned for the childrens well being.

That said I feel just horrible for the little kid Cody, but I also wonder if calling attention to it is a good idea too. I'm saying this not knowing what the fuck I'm talking about, but like the only move would be CPS removing the kids from the home and is that really better? I mean maybe it is I don't know but I've never heard fantastic things about the way American Foster Homes work.

The whole thing just disgust me. The father seems like one of those pricks who never got the shit kicked out of them in high school and therefore never learned a bit of humbleness.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Oh, the best part was their response to people saying they were going to call protective services.
"We've already been investigated for the Youtube channel, nothin' was found!"

You can't be serious. You CAN'T BE SERIOUS. Fuck that if that's legit

Yeah I call bullshit on that. I would think there would be enough evidence just in the clips shown in PhillyD's video for action to be taken.

 

[Terminal Blue]

Maybe I watch too much anime so I'm ingrained with the idea of social services being completely useless.

They aren't useless so much as restrained by the law and the reality of the situation. You can't remove someone's kid just because they're an ass, because all that's going to happen to that kid is that they will be taken away from the only environment they know and put in care, which is also a bad environment. The outcomes of long term care are not great for kids who go through it (although some of that may be due to the abuse which put them in care).

There's a certain perspective here which I can understand you not having if you grew up in a good home. Like, what's happening in this video is emotionally abusive, but there are things which are worse, so much worse, than emotional abuse, and child protection services see those things all the time. The fact that they've gone through an inspection and "passed" may seem bad to you, but it means that if the kid ends up in hospital or comes into school with bruises people are going to ask questions, and those questions could save his life. The stakes and standards child protection services have to work with are different to yours, because compared to the kinds of things they have to deal with this is.. well.. it's not the worst.

But again, that doesn't mean it's not important to report this kind of emotional neglect when you see it, because even if it's unlikely to result in action on its own, it can help to identify children who are at risk of more serious abuse and build up a body of evidence if it ever does escalate.