The Adrenaline Rush of Children’s Pranks

Abstract

The article attempts to introduce, describe, and theoretically justify the phenomenon of the children’s prank as one of the natural features of childhood. According to the author, the children’s prank deserves to be conceived of as a particular category due to the many descriptions of this phenomenon in children’s literature. The author defines the specific features of the children’s prank as a particular socio-educational phenomenon on the basis of the socio-educational framework of A.V. Mudrik, Mikhail Bakhtin’s ideas about the carnivalesque and the culture of folk humor [narodno-smekhovaya kul’tura], and Eric Berne’s theory of transactional analysis. An analysis of Russian and foreign works of literary fiction about childhood and adolescence allows us to identify the various features of the children’s prank: it consists of an action that is aimed at overturning adult expectations, including in order to obtain a material gain. The prankster demonstrates a code of honor. The prank is publicized as a challenge. The prankster then often becomes self-conscious of the fact that he has performed a provocative act and fears punishment. Based on an analysis and interpretation of narrative interviews that were obtained from respondents who were born between 1935 and 1978, we were able to ethnographically reconstruct the cultural practices of Soviet teenagers during their summer vacations at Pioneer camps. In this situation, children pulled pranks to have fun; freely socialize with peers without adult supervision; experience thrilling emotions as a result of setting off on an adventure, such as when boys confronted girls or when one troop of children challenged another, and so on. The problem of children’s pranks that is raised in this article warrants additional study from a socio-educational perspective. In particular, the culture of modern-day pranks should be explored.