Mother leaves cardboard cutout of herself in son’s college dorm room

‘That way, if any girls try to come in your room, they can see me,’ student’s mother said about the cutout

Some college freshmen love move-in day for the sake of not being under their parents’ roof anymore, and others dread the day they leave their childhood home.

One mother, Jill Wagner, decided to use the moving opportunity to play a prank on her son, Hakin, who’d asked his mother to buy posters for his dorm room ahead of his first year at Maryville University. Jill documented herself hanging up the posters she’d chosen, as well as Hakin’s reaction to the prank, on her TikTok page, where she goes by the username @jillwagner81.

The first video shows Hakin’s family members in his room setting up the posters, which included one of his father pointing at an empty laundry basket and a life-size cutout of Jill. “My son asked for posters for his college dorm so I had some made of me and his dad!” text across the screen read.

“Bet next time he’s more specific. He hasn’t seen it yet!”

The following video showed Hakin standing outside his dorm room with text across the screen that read, “Hakin’s reaction to his surprise dorm decorations.” After walking in and seeing the large cardboard cutout of his mother, he immediately told his parents to “take this thing right out”.

Jill then goes on to explain her reasoning for the cutout saying: “Honey, I know you’re gonna miss me so much; I got a life-size picture of me for your dorm." His father then asked Hakin if he liked where they placed the cutout, or if there was another place he wanted to keep it.

The college freshman replied: “Somewhere out where nobody can ever see it." His mother continued to joke about the situation saying, “That way, if any girls try to come in your room, they can see me."

“That is so embarrassing,” Hakin replied as he laughed and smiled over the prank. A similar reaction appeared when he noticed the poster of his dad, which was hung right above Hakin’s laundry basket.

Speaking to Insider, Hakin said he was “shocked” by the prank but found it to be funny, mentioning that his parents are “full of crazy shenanigans” and “always doing something that’s extravagant”.

“I appreciate the gesture, you know, because she brought me in at a young age and has taken care of me all my life, and she never wants to leave me because I was the last child to leave,” Hakin told the outlet about his mother. “She just wanted to be a part of my college experience as much as she can.”

Both videos posted on 26 and 27 August received over 400,000 views, with their combined views hitting over one million. Viewers have since taken to the comments section to praise the sweet interaction, while others revealed they were inspired and plan to pull a similar prank with their own children.

“I’m 100 per cent gonna be this mom when my son grows up,” one commenter wrote. Another agreed, writing: “Omg!! I now cannot wait for my son to go to college!! I am DEF doing this!!!”

Other viewers questioned if Hakin would actually be taking the posters and cutout down. “He knows he ain’t taking them down, low key he loves it. Funny convo piece for him,” one comment read. “Wonder how many times he will sit and talk to that cut out when he’s missing you?” another commenter asked.