April Fools’ Day etiquette: These are the pranks you should avoid

CEBU CITY, Philippines— Today, the world is celebrating one of the most fun days of the year. April Fools’ Day.

It is that one day you have the license to pull off a prank on people.

With the merriment that this day offers everyone, let’s also be sensitive to the topics that we can and should not joke about.

This is just to ensure that we are all having fun on this day and not stepping on someone’s insecurities.

Here are some pranks you should be avoiding this April Fools’ Day:

Faking a pregnancy

It may be fun to give your friends and family a mini heart attack with this prank, but you have to consider those who have been trying to conceive a baby but can’t. Not everyone is blessed to have a baby, and some of them can be your friends or relatives. Can you imagine how hurtful it will be for them to see this kind of joke?

Coming out gay or lesbian

Not everyone is aware of the struggles gays and lesbians face every day, all the more the struggle to formally come out as gay or lesbian. It may be easy to joke around being gay or lesbian, but coming out as a real gay or lesbian is certainly not. To joke about this is just plain insensitive.

COVID-19 jokes

Yes, this should certainly be not on your prank list. What the world is experiencing right now is not something we should joke about. A lot of lives have been claimed by this virus and it isn’t even done yet.  So doing a prank that relates to our current situation is just wrong. Very wrong.

Faking a death

No one likes to receive bad news like this. And we guarantee this won’t even sit well with whoever you pull this prank on. So think of another prank that is indeed hilarious and fun. Not this.

So think thoroughly on the practical jokes you might have in mind. Remember that April Fools’ Day is just celebrated for a day. You don’t want to live a lifelong scar on someone for an insensitive prank. /bmjo