PETALING JAYA, July 16 — A prank by parents on their children may not be as harmless as thought.

For one Johorean couple, their efforts in trying to wean their children off gadgets may have gone viral, tickling the funny bone of many. 

The prank however did not go down well with some, due to possible mental trauma to the children.

Mohd Rahseed Nisran, 32, and Rita Sofia Abdul Rahman, 30, decided on a unique ‘lesson’ with the help of some make-up and painted their children’s eyes black after being inspired by another Facebook post.

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“After seeing it on Facebook, when the kids went to sleep, my wife and I tried it,” said Rahseed to mStar.

“When they woke up, they looked at each other weirdly, and we told them their eyes became like that because they play too much with the phone — and they immediately burst into tears.”

They did this in the hopes of getting Raimi Ramani, 7, and Raes Rafael, 3, to stop watching the iconic Japanese anime, Beyblade and local favourite animation, Upin & Ipin, on their smartphones.

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While many saw the humour behind their actions and even praised them for teaching their kids a lesson, some voiced their displeasure by saying that pranking the kids in that way could cause unnecessary trauma.

The original posting has since been taken down for going against Facebook’s community guidelines. — Screen capture via Facebook
The original posting has since been taken down for going against Facebook’s community guidelines. — Screen capture via Facebook

The critics weren’t alone either as Public Health Malaysia’s Facebook page picked up the viral post.

Public Health Malaysia stated that the original post of the prank on Facebook, which was shared over 64 thousand times, had been removed by the social networking site upon their request, as it promotes inducing trauma upon children. 

The post read: “The post of a prank by a mother on her children which was shared by netizens over 64 thousand times has been removed as it goes against community standards.

“If you are planning to follow suit, think again.” 

It followed with a lengthy explanation on how pranking can cause trauma to the individual being pranked, especially children, as it can cause future difficulties with the child’s ability to handle their emotions.

Their brother-in-law posted their antics on Twitter, getting over 9000 shares and 6000 likes in the process.