Public Shaming is Shameful

The idea of publicly shaming your child online is truly puzzling to me. I don’t see how making the punishment public helps the child learn any valuable lesson at all. The fact that a parent would consider this a good punishment reveals significant issues within their own self. I feel that doing so signifies the trauma they probably endured as a child and how their parents may have treated them. I think the parents are not acting to better their child’s behavior but to humiliate and “prove” some point they feel necessary. I think they want praise and kudos for their hard and “thoughtful” punishment. What’s sad is that many parents jump on these posts and love the “creative” punishment these parents have come up with. It’s scary that this many individuals with children agree with such measures. But really it’s more than likely a reflection of their childhood, which they couldn’t control. However, they can control their parenting and should realize the damage public shaming could have on their children. There are so many ways in which a child can be damaged from parents seeking out public shaming. The child will more likely lose trust for the parent, for they have put some of the worst mistakes online. It’s embarrassing not helpful. The child will not respect the parent, but fear them. They will fear for their reputation and confidence. The child will not look to the parent as a source of learning but merely a source of humiliation. Posting the child’s failings online is not a teachable moment at all, for it tells the child that mistakes are laughable. Even worse, they child make see the mistakes and punishments as life ending. As the young girl in California did, many choose suicide to cope with the shame their parents brought on them. But worst of all the people that comment on this post that agree with such punishments because honestly to me they seem like trolls. They are laughing, liking, and sharing these posts all over the online world. As a daycare teacher I can tell you that punishing a child in such ways is not going to help them grow but it will change them forever. They will lose confidence, self/esteem, and themselves. Since when does parenting need to be broadcasted online? Generations before did no such thing and it should not be a thing now.