Parenting is not easy, but this TikTok dad is very close to nailing it.
A viral video popped back up again recently after being shared by the jasmiumkjpj account on the short-video-format platform on June 15th to over 7 million viewers, but it dates back to 2021. It was first posted by the prank orchestrator himself on his personal TikTok page rhythmlessman, generating even more engagement and a whopping total of 23 million views and counting.
The dad captured the moment his son and his friends snuck back into the house after sneaking out in the middle of the night, for reasons unexplained, using a couple of cameras, Alexa, and remotely controlled lights. Naturally, his follow-up video explaining the step-by-step of his epic father-and-son “gotcha” moment received just as much love as the original, with nearly 21 million views as of July 2024.
“When you watch your son and his friends sneak out, you have to F with them when they return,” the dad captioned the video, making sure to thank Alexa for the assist. In it, the son and a seemingly never-ending number of friends thinking they have gotten away with their escapade, are surprised by the lights turning on and a feminine-sounding robotic voice announcing “Hi Jesse! Next time, just say you want to go out, so you don’t need to climb through a window with all your friends. I hope you had fun, were safe, and didn’t crap your parents when I started talking. I may go viral on TikTok for this, thanks for the content!”
The teenagers, initially stunned into silence, one leg inside the house, and another outside the window, burst out laughing as soon as the announcement concluded, followed by Jesse approaching the ring camera, flipping his father off, cussing at him, and telling him he loved him simultaneously. Despite the epicness of the prank and the impressive amount of views, this last part didn’t sit well with a lot of people watching.
“I thought it was great til the F U. Too much. I think he knew it too,” one TikToker commented, with another questioning, “is anyone going to talk about the kid disrespecting the dad? I could never justify flipping my dad off.” Judging by rhythmlessman’s previous videos, though, it seems his relationship with his children is laid back and playful and that they know each other well enough to know which lines not to cross.
As another commentator pointed out, “obvs [sic] you can tell the kid and the parents get along well and don’t mind cursing so why do y’all have a problem about it more than the parents?.” Every parent is different, and it seems to us the most important part of this video was the creative, mischievous way this dad found to teach his kid a lesson.
As for how Dad pulled it off, you can see for yourself and maybe take some notes. This is one ingenious man.
Most people were fond of the idea. “Just perfect parenting,” TikTok user MummaBear said. “I love this so much!! I thought I was deemed a cool mom on tt [sic] but you take the cake!,” another TikTok parent mused. “My parents were just like this with me growing up and that’s why at 27 they are still my best friends!,” a third user offered. The line between being your kid’s best friend and successfully parenting them is thin and hard to walk, but once you nail it, you’ve found the holy grail!