Parents Are Scaring Kids Into Thinking They’re ‘Invisible’ As a Prank & People Are Pissed

Apparently teenagers aren’t the only people susceptible to popular social media challenges. A new viral challenge has parents using household objects and tricky camera work to convince kids that they’ve turned invisible and then posting their reactions online. But the videos, many of which show kids crying in terror, have some people questioning whether the prank is going too far.

YouTuber David Dobrik was the first one to popularize the prank after he pulled it on a friend’s little brother and posted it on YouTube.

Basically, it works like this: when your kid isn’t paying attention, you take a photo of yourself looking shocked and bewildered next to an empty chair. Then, later, you get your kid to sit in that same chair, cover them with a sheet or blanket, and say some “magic words” (whatever you want). Then, you pull the sheet off and pretend you can’t see them, take a photo of where they’re sitting, and then show them the photo from earlier of you standing beside the empty chair so they think, Oh my God, I’m really invisible.

Dobrik’s version of the challenge was inspired by a scene from the Netflix show Magic for Humans, where host and magician Justin Willman successfully convinced another adult that he turned invisible.

The problem is, when kids are the target of the trick they are legitimately terrified.

In one video of the prank posted on Instagram, an 11-year-old little girl named Ava starts screaming and crying in terror after her family pulls the prank on her. She gets so worked up that her mom has to immediately tell her they’re just kidding to calm her down.

McKayla Cunningham, who originally shared the video, told Buzzfeed the crying girl is her little sister, and she was fine afterward. Once Ava realized it was a prank, she began "laughing hysterically" and supposedly told her family, "OK, you guys did a great job!"

"She is totally fine, and is still her happy energetic self," the sister added.

Still, the prank has many wondering why people are traumatizing little kids for fun.

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Of course, not everyone agrees. When blogger Dad Minus One posted about the prank on Facebook, the post got hundreds of positive comments.

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Ultimately, no two kids are going to react the same way to this prank. Their reactions can vary with age, their imaginations, their development, and how hip they are to their parents' shenanigans. As with most things in parenting, only individual moms and dads know their kids well enough to be able to decide if they ready for something like this.