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A JOCULAR father of 3 children is reportedly edging ever closer to crossing the line whereby harmless slagging of his children could spill over into providing them with a reason to spend much of their adult life in therapy.

Brian Hurley (48), with an address in the Waterford area of Earth, routinely makes gentle fun of his children James, Ella and Robert, zeroing in on the various insecurities they never had until their father embedded them into their subconscious as he continues to draw attention to their flaws all in the name ‘just having a laugh’.

“Ah, I was only messing, stop getting your nickers in a twist,” Brian confirmed to his son Robert, after making fun of the 14-year-old’s recent weight gain, in an episode that could take up a significant part of future sessions Robert has with a trained psychotherapist years from now.

Brian, a self-confessed great dad who enjoys a joke, has of late increased the amount of laughs he enjoys at the expense of his three children who can’t quite figure out why they don’t find him being so mean all that funny. Harmless japes have included routinely pretending to lose control of the family car while the children are in it while screaming at the top of lungs and pretending to throw bulky and heavy household items at them when they least expect it.

“They could pass a tissue between your ears, ha,” added Brian as he poured over Ella’s last school report before the summer break, much to his own amusement. Ella is spoiled for choice when it comes to deciding which long running joke her father tells about her she finds most upsetting, but it is likely the one in which every boy that shows interest in her requires a trip to Specsavers.

Despite the long term risk to his children’s confidence and indeed his own relationship with them, Brian maintains if you can’t take a joke, that’s not his fault before going on to describe ‘jokes’ which sound a lot like a sustained campaign of psychological warfare.

“Look, you have to be able to laugh at yourself. It’s character building. And they love when I pull a prank,” the part-time comedian added, fondly recalling the time he jokingly suggested his children’s mother was dead.