boy cryingSome people are calling it cruel, but I think it's one of the best parenting pranks I've seen on a child in awhile. In a video posted on YouTube, mom Paula Papen tells her 8-year-old son that he accidentally bought a $50,000 Mustang on eBay.

Clearly they've had some discussions before about the dangers of something like this happening, because the boy immediately starts freaking out and crying. He worries that they're going to have to "sell everything," and seems genuinely terrified that he did this. Watch it after the jump.

 

I think it's hilarious, but not everyone is laughing. Plenty of commenters blasted the mom for being cruel and even abusive. People called her a jerk, and one said it was "disgusting 'parenting.'"

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Please. The whole video is less than a minute long, so it's not like she let him believe it for long. And you can see that he actually gets a kick out of it at the end. As she wrote in response to commenters, "Anyone who knows us knows that we are a silly family who laughs WITH and yes, sometimes, even AT each other!"

I think it's fun, and I love families that can laugh and joke around. Life is too serious too often as it is.

What do you think -- funny joke or mean move by mom?

 

Image via YouTube